They are mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers, some as old as ninety, and most days of the year, no matter what the temperature, they wade into the swirling waters of the Korean Strait, take a breath, and slip beneath the waves in search of octopus, abalone, and seaweed. When the haenyeo, or “sea women,” of Jeju Island break the surface, they let out a distinctive whistle, take in some air, and dive again, their harvest stashed safely in netted sacks.
The haenyeo have been diving by necessity at least since the year 400, and there are hints in ancient texts that their practice predates the first of the Three Kingdoms of Korea more than two thousand years ago. The island, about sixty miles south of the Korean mainland, is volcanic, with the last eruption just ten thousand years ago, and its soil has long parried attempts at agriculture. The sea has always been their sustenance.
Traditionally, the men fished in boats while the women dove, and in
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