Haenyo: Lady Divers of Jeju Island

Jeju Island is considered as the premier tourist destination of Korea. It is the largest island as well as the smallest province of South Korea. Located south of South Korea, about an hour flight from the capital Seoul, this volcanic landmass whose unique scenery of black lava rock walls, verdant hills covered with evergreens and palms, sandy beaches coupled with its warm, subtropical climate have made it a favorite honeymoon destination for newlyweds.

Another attraction of Jeju is its lady divers, the mermaids of Jeju known as Haenyo. If the weather is calm, you might be lucky enough to see these women in wetsuits clambering across rocks with nylon nets, called mangsiri, and drum-like floats called taewak, over their shoulders. Diving without the aid of a breathing apparatus and reaching depths of about 15 – 20 meters, this extremely dangerous occupation is not popular among young Korean women, thus it is dominated by women aged over 40, some say that there are divers who are more than 70 years old. The haenyo make their living diving for octopus, abalone, sea urchins, sea slugs, cucumber and seaweeds. Mainstream Korea is considered as a male-centric society but the haenyo of Jeju is a representative of a matriarchal family structure (that's what you call girl power).