SCUBA in Korea

Haeundae Beach in Busan, South Korea

This week-end was an amazing one in Busan, the second largest city in South Korea. A few friends and I met in the metropolis Friday night and after a hunt for the best motel in the area, my friend Beney and I finally chose to share a Korean style room at some motel near the beach.

After a nice breakfast Saturday morning, we headed to the Busan Aquarium where we would soon be diving in shark infested waters! The process before getting in the water was lengthy and the actual dive was short and sweet. Since most of the divers that day were not certified, we watched a video about the basics of SCUBA diving, a good refresher for me, followed by a brief lesson from the dive master.

Finally, the long awaited moment arrived!! Although I was excited about diving again, I could not help but feel discomfort in the thought that just below there lurked an abundant number of deadly fish. I placed my fear aside and dove in! What a spectacular scene it was!!! I, of course, had a few issues with equalizing but that was soon forgotten after spotting a shark swimming near by.


The descent


Equalizing with my dive buddy

We continued with the tour, admiring underwater animals such as stingrays, marine turtles, tiger sharks and great nurse sharks, to name a few. Towards the end of the dive, I was ready to get out of the water for I was beginning to shiver. The water was icy cold and I was looking forward to laying under the sun on Haeundae Beach--which did not happen unfortunately!!!



Stingray showing its mouth and gills


Great Nurse Shark


Diver playing with turtle after feeding it

The rest of the week-end was equally satisfying with a night out in one of the many Norebangs (Karaoke rooms), drinks, snacks and conversations back in the room and finally, a peaceful Sunday. Now I'm ready to attack the last week of classes before the summer vacation!

More pictures are available in the Picture Gallery!