January 2011

Off the coast of Seogwipo there are four rocky islets : Seopseom, Big and Little Munseom and Beomseom. From Seopseom to Beomseom there's a distance of roughly ten kilometres and this whole area is a designated marine nature reserve. Despite being at latitude 33 the waters are comparatively warm thanks to a branch of the Kuroshio current called the Tsushima current which brings warm water up from the east coast of Taiwan and as a result the underwater flora and fauna and fish life is not unlike what can be seen in the Philippines.

It was in these lovely waters that I acquired my NAUI Advanced Open Water, My Rescue and Emergency and my Master Scuba Diver certifications thanks to the extensive experience and expertise of Ralf Deutsch my NAUI dive instrutor who runs a dive centre on the island called Big Blue 33. http://www.bigblue33.co.kr/english/fr_introduction.htm

My gratitude and thanks to Scuba Rico (my diving buddy in 2009) for sharing his underwater photographs.

On the boat to Big Munseom in the background.

Getting set up on Big Munseum

Little Munseom

Beomseom islet. Unlike dives from Seopseom and Munseom islets this one is a boat dive. In November 2010 we saw a beautiful white sting ray.

Scuba Rico whose underwater photographs below were taken by him.