The Rocky Beach and Women of the Sea

It was another fun day for the children to be out of school, so we had another day at the park planned.  This is our return trip to the Dragon Park, with its wonderful dragon slides.  We also went to an exercise area, where we found a few monkeys hanging around at the monkey bars.

Denisa has been trying to discreetly get a picture of one of the Koreans using the over-sized hula hoops.  Today Alexia showed us her hooping skills so we could get a good picture.  We found that the hoops come in different sizes and various weights for more exercise.  This one looks king-sized, but it is actually one of the smaller, lighter hoops.

Then we headed to the beach for snacks.  Alexia knows that all children love kinder-joys.  They come in an egg-shaped package that separates into two pieces.  One side has chocolate nougat and vanilla creamy layers, with two crunchy candy balls.  It has a little spoon included to make it easy to clean up every delicious bit of the candy.

The other side hides a toy surprise.  We found the toys to be surprisingly detailed and fun.  Some need a little assembly, but this just provides more fun.  You may have noticed five toys pictured while we only had three children today.  Let's just say that Mark and Denisa are just two over-sized kids that can verify how good the candy tastes.

As fun as kinder joys are, we can't bring any home with us.  They are illegal in the United States because of the little spoon included, and the tiny toys are considered a choking hazard because they are packaged with a food item.  We also had oranges and apples at our beach picnic snack, with a beautiful view of the Japan Sea.

We saw people down on the rocks below, collecting sea creatures again today.

But the most interesting scenery of the day had to be the elderly women, diving for fresh sea food.  They are called "Haenyeo" or more literally "sea women."  We watched as one woman made her way up the long flight of steps from the sea.

Here is a closer view of the pack they must carry. According to the article we read later, this is a dwindling career path for Korean women.  Today,  84% percent of the haenyeo are 60 years or older, and the oldest are over 80.

Once on land, she carefully separated the collected sea weed from the catch of the day.

We thought it was interesting that these women don't wear flotation devices.  Quite the contrary, they wear home-made weighted belts made of stones that help them to stay under water longer.  We timed one of the divers, and she stayed under water for two minutes.  We read that they can dive for as long as three minutes.

We felt that being in their company was a little like living a National Geographic special.  This is the flight of steps that they traversed, carrying their heavy packs from the sea.

At the bottom of the flight of steps is a make-shift restaurant where they serve only raw (and very fresh) fish. The dining table and chairs might be a little primitive, but the view is spectacular.

The "maitre d" is showing the catch of the day, most of it still swimming in the tanks.

We walked back up the steps, wandering through another of God's wonders.  Even though it is fall, there are still some flowers blooming on this blue-sky day.

Camden found a sea creature of his own.  He had no qualms about picking up this dried out octopus, and was glad to hold it for a close-up picture.

We wandered along the shore line, enjoying the day.  The white rocky peninsula in the background is usually available for a hike out to its point.  But they are redoing the trail, so we could only see that view from the shore today.

Now we understand the diving and fishing process a little better.  Each one of those dots in the water is at least one woman and her floating buoy that marks her spot under water.

Most buoys were white on one side, and flipped over to the orange side when the diver went under water.  The buoys also provided a place to keep their catch.  We caught this picture of one diver up and another's black flippers in the air as she just went under.

Meanwhile, back on our beach, Camden and Katrina are busy looking for sea creatures too.  Mark and Cole are watching carefully from a safe distance.

They are finding snails and sea glass and tiny crabs. . .

and other slimy creatures attached to the rocks.

Cole has found a piece of wood, and Uncle Mark is helping him "walk the plank."

The two of them have become great buddies, and Cole was very sad to find out we would be leaving soon.  He exclaimed, "but you've only been here one hour" (when it has really been over two weeks now).  He suggested that we fly home, pack our bags, then fly right back.

It was a great day at the beach again.  We have been to the big rock beach, the black sand beach, and the fine white powder beach now--and all less than 20 minutes from their house!  We are enjoying the beauty of South Korea, and are also entertained by some of the differences.  Denisa finally took a picture inside one of the bathroom stalls.  There are many other interesting things that we will blog about later, but she is finding an emergency button in almost every stall.  Mark reports that he didn't see any buttons like this in the men's rest room.  It just makes one want to push it to see what would happen . . .