A Day in South Korea – Waterfalls & Haenyeo on Jeju Island
Eugene L. 11.09.23
Previously when I first talked about Jeju Island I brought up the old nickname of Samda-do where the three most abundant things on the island are Rocks, Wind, and Women. Well, I will be talking about some of the women today. The Haenyeo of Jeju Island are female divers who earn their living by harvesting the bounty of the sea in the waters around Jeju Island. They are known for their strong will, independent spirit, and determination. They can hold their breath for over three minutes at a time and are capable of diving down up to 30 meters (98ft) while looking for shellfish. They generally harvest abalone, sea snails, octopus, sea urchins, sea squirts, oysters, sea cucumbers, and various edible seaweeds.
Traditionally Haenyeo started training at the young age of 11, working the shallows as a trainee. After about 7 years of this training, they would be considered full-on Haenyeo. These women were the breadwinners of their homes, an odd thing for the Confucian culture of Korea. The Haenyeo are representative of the semi-matriarchal family structures on Jeju Island. Nowadays these women are celebrated as one of Jeju Island’s greatest cultural treasures, even being added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2016 and the South Korean Intangible Cultural Property List in 2017. Even so, the Haenyeo are disappearing as the years go on, as of 2014 98% of Haenyeo were over the age of 50. Some of the oldest Haenyeo now are well into their 80s still going out into the cold waters around the island. If yall want to see more on the Haenyeo check out this UNESCO video here.
Stepping back from my history slash Jeju Island culture lesson, we’re doing the time warp again. This was day two of the Jeju Island trip, where we went down to the south coast of the island. The plan for the day was to start on the western side of the south coast and go east along the ocean stopping at the sights and taking in the natural beauty of the island. The south coast of the island is also home to all three of the famous waterfalls of Jeju; Jeongbang Waterfall, Cheonjiyeon Waterfall, and Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls. We had originally wanted to stop at Cheonjiyeon Waterfall, but when we got to the parking lot the crowds were just too large. Rather we chose to go a little bit further down the coast to Jeongbang Waterfall. While still having a good amount of people there weren’t any tour buses at this spot so it looked not too crowded at least. After we parked we went up to the ticket booth and bought our tickets, 2000 won ($ 1.53 USD) a piece.
Now with our tickets, we down past all the little shops and gave the tickets to the booth at the entrance. From there it is 130 steps down to the base of the cliff. While most of them aren’t too bad some are a bit steep, and being cut from the basalt stone of the island they can be slippery if wet. If you need a break going down or coming back up there are a few platforms along the way where you can stop and take a break or just take in the view. Then once you get to the bottom of the steps there is a stone path you follow down to the base of the waterfall. While we made our way down to the falls I noticed this tent out on the rocks to our left as we went.
While I thought they might be Haenyeo selling some of their fresh catch, we had the waterfall to see first. Once you get to the end of the path there are some steps and then it’s just boulders. So watch your step and be careful of the wet rocks they are super slick. Take your time going over the rocks, you don’t want to get fucked up down there, it’s a lot of steps to get back up to the top. But once you get near the pool, the wind and mist coming off the falling water feel amazing. We just took some time to take everything in, and also watch other tourists almost eat shit on the rocks. If you go down near the shore you will get splashed and possibly soaked, which we did see happen to a family as they were trying to take a photo.
Once we were done at the falls it was time to head back up, but on the way I wanted to check out that tent we saw on the way down. We went over there to see it was a couple of Haenyeo selling their fresh catch. They had tubs of live abalone, sea cucumber, sea squirts, and turban snails that they had caught earlier. So of course we had to get some to eat for a quick shore lunch.
Their setup was one taking orders and payment while the other would wash the dishes and silverware using a tub and a hose they had run down from the top of the cliffs. They had two plate options a small or large plate, with whatever selection of shellfish you wanted. We went with the smaller plate for 50,000 won ($38.17 USD) and chose the abalone, sea cucumber, and turban snails. It’s served really simply, you order, then she takes out what you want from the tubs and cuts them up for you. The presentation is on a melamine plate with chojang(sweet and tangy chili paste) for dipping and fresh garlic all on top of an aluminum tray with some chopsticks.
They had these weighted plastic seats along with some big pieces of styrofoam to use as chairs. I grabbed us a couple along with a couple of rocks to act as our table while we ate. I’ve had abalone and sea cucumber plenty of times in the US with my job running a Korean sushi place, but this stuff was so good compared to what I could have flown in. The freshness was next level, as you would expect buying seafood from the diver who caught it. While the price may seem a bit higher than other stops like the night market, compared to US prices for the same seafood this is a great price and an experience that I recommend. I know it won’t agree with most of yall’s palettes. But if you have the chance to eat seafood caught and served by Haenyeo, do it. I don’t want to end this on a down note but the Haenyeo are disappearing, they are aging out and there is not really a new generation to replace them. I can’t blame them, I wouldn’t want my daughters doing such a difficult and dangerous job. But while they’re still around take some time and try something new if you happen to be on Jeju Island.
