Pohang

The shore dives here need little more than a short walk. At Guryongpo Samjeong Beach divers set up their equipment and walk for about a minute to the water. The Dive11 resort at Ungjin, one of the established training centres on the East Sea coastline, uses its own shore site as a house reef. Off Pohang and Cheongjin, artificial reefs placed to protect the marine ecosystem and develop sea ranches form a series of separate dive points rather than one reef.

Underwater the coast mixes sand, rock and placed structures. At Ungjin kelp forests dominate the shallower sections, their fronds filtering the light into golden tones, with rockfish above the kelp and nudibranchs on the rock. At Guryongpo a tetrapod line about 70 m long runs through the middle of the beach and gathers a range of creatures in shallow water. At Cheongjin the reefs come as distinct shapes: a square reef, an underwater igloo and an iron reef used for deep dives.

The coast suits newly certified divers and those on courses. The shore sites are shallow and suit Open Water divers, and the Cheongjin structures double as a classroom: the square reef and the igloo host underwater-navigation adventure dives, and the iron reef deep-dive scenarios. At Ungjin the resort's equipment rental, classrooms and changing areas sit beside the entry, which makes the house reef a preferred site for open water certification courses and refresher training.