Gangneung

Diving here is a day-boat routine from Sacheon Port: gear up, ride out, dive, return to port for the surface interval, then repeat for the next dive. Some centres keep two dedicated dive boats and run trips daily, though on weekdays a boat needs at least four divers before it goes out. Descents and ascents follow a line, because the first 6 m can hold 2 to 3 m of visibility before the water clears to about 10 m at depth. Newly trained divers make their first sea dives at Agajjam, near Sacheon Port.

The underwater park is the core of the diving, and its draw is steel rather than coral. The East Sea floor here is mostly sand, so life gathers on rock and placed structures: scuttled fishing hulls lying close together, military vehicles set out in a square formation, and scaffold towers built as artificial reefs. Schools of fish hang around the Stella, most of the wreck is covered in mussels, and the towers hold nudibranchs. Rock shaped by lava flows forms the Jurassic World point. Cold currents and plankton blooms set the tone of the water.

The coast suits divers who want wrecks and are at ease in cold water with a dim surface layer and modest visibility below it. The Haejung Gongwon point lies close to Sacheon Port with a descent line, which makes it a training site, and the Stella's upper works keep less experienced divers within a shallower plan, while the wreck's base gives deep divers a target. Anyone looking for warm water or reliable clarity will find it hard going, especially when the monsoon has wrecked visibility for weeks.