Jeju - Help!

[Six2Life]

So work travel is taking me to Korea and due to some schedule shifting I'll have 3 days open for leisure. My plan is to spend those 3 days on Jeju and hopefully get some diving in. Most of my inquiries about dive shops thus far have been met with the recommendation of bigblue33 as the best (only?) dive op on the island that caters to westerners. But unfortunately bigblue is shutting down for their winter break the day before I arrive. I found another op that advertised an english-speaking DM but it turns out she will not be on Jeju while I am staying there. Back to square one...

So what i need is a dive op with the ability to communicate in english at least well enough to maintain a basic level of safety and possibly provide some rental gear. Speaking of gear, that is another dilemma. I will for sure bring my own mask, regs, and computer; but due to baggage restrictions probably not much else... if I can be sure I can rent the rest. But from what I've heard finding rental gear in my size might not be easy from most of the local op's. I really don't want to have to lug a 2pc 5mm suit, and BC halfway around the world if I don't have to.

I'm scheduled to leave in only a few days so I think I might be screwed on this one. It sounds like there is enough non-diving stuff on Jeju to make it worth the trip anyways. Or would I be better off spending 3 days in Seoul?

 

[pazz]

After all my research I went with BigBlue33 and would recommend them. If I went back to Jeju to dive I wouldn’t look at anyone else. Sorry, I can’t recommend anyone else to help you.

If it was spring/summer/fall and I couldn’t dive, I could find enough activities to keep me busy on Jeju; however, this time of year I would go with Seoul. But, remember that Seoul will be colder and have more of a chance of snow. It really depends on what you like to do. I know some people that are heading to Jeju at the end of December to climb Hallasan (mountain). Seoul will give you a large city experience (also can be expensive), while Jeju will probably give you a better idea of what many would call the “authentic” Korea. Personally, this time of year I’d rather be walking around Myeong-dong in Seoul looking at the winter fashions……..