[HN Gopher] Women of the sea: Korea's oldest free divers
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       Women of the sea: Korea's oldest free divers
        
       Author : adrian_mrd
       Score  : 91 points
       Date   : 2021-11-21 13:58 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.abc.net.au)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.abc.net.au)
        
       | eatonphil wrote:
       | Random tip for New Yorkers here: there's a great restaurant in
       | Park Slope Brooklyn named after them, Haenyeo, on 5th Ave and
       | Carroll Street.
        
         | tyre wrote:
         | One of the best restaurants in the area. Actually, one of the
         | best restaurants I've been to in NYC.
        
       | rdtwo wrote:
       | Seems like it's not needed now that scuba gear I is Cheap
       | reliable and readily available. Why risk it.
        
         | rp1 wrote:
         | I have some extended family who alive along a rugged expanse of
         | the pacific. The after there is amazing wild. There is all
         | types of sea life living in the rocky outcrops and kelp forest.
         | My family there free dives to get abalone with a dull metal
         | knife. Watching them do it is crazy. You begin to worry after
         | they've been down a long time. There is no economic incentive
         | for them. They just like to do it.
        
         | NikolaeVarius wrote:
         | 1) Scuba Gear is expensive
         | 
         | 2) Scuba Gear requires maintenance
         | 
         | 3) Scuba Gear requires a compressor which is more expense and
         | maintenance.
         | 
         | 4) You can free dive all day and not have to a damn about
         | decompression times (exceptions occur for very aggressive
         | repeated deep drives, which is not happening here). This is
         | untrue for Scuba
         | 
         | 5) Clearly there is a cultural component to this.
        
       | hashamali wrote:
       | Unrelated to the article itself, but the design of this page on
       | mobile is a beautiful experience.
        
       | toufka wrote:
       | Patagonia made a little short (13m) about Jeju. Definitely worth
       | watching:
       | 
       | https://youtu.be/r4jLplyxXqI
        
       | feels0ng wrote:
       | I saw a TV program covering this professions and had a couple of
       | few young ladies who jumped into this profession, but that was
       | pretty much it. They were desperately recruiting. Their earnings
       | are pretty good, but still there are potential dangers.
       | 
       | My grand father escaped from Jeju when he was in early 20s. I
       | wish he was still alive, so I could ask about the history. I have
       | relatives, but always interesting to read these articles about
       | people living in the area.
        
       | getoj wrote:
       | Unfortunately no mention of the equivalent Japanese tradition of
       | _ama_ [1], identically named in Chinese characters (Hai Nu )
       | though much older - the first records of female _ama_ are from
       | the Heian period, whereas _haenyeo_ as female divers appear to be
       | a more recent phenomenon.
       | 
       | I am sure there are a number of interesting comparisons to be
       | made and probably some historical connection between the two.
       | However, these kinds of cultural similarities between Japan and
       | Korea are rarely discussed, probably due to the nationalist
       | animosity between the two countries.
       | 
       | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ama_(diving)
        
       | Borrible wrote:
       | Tough old mermaids.
       | 
       | They inherit the job from their mothers.
       | 
       | They used to dive while pregnant, often through the whole
       | pregnancy.
       | 
       | For generations.
       | 
       | And up to a ripe old age
       | 
       | They may have inherited more physical characteristics.Could come
       | in handy with rising sea levels
       | 
       | It is a bit sad that the profession is dying. And with it
       | probably the physical characteristics.
        
         | emodendroket wrote:
         | Frankly it seems like a needlessly dangerous practice to
         | continue.
        
           | Borrible wrote:
           | Yes, but those surviving maybe special.
        
         | traeregan wrote:
         | > It is a bit sad that the profession is dying. And with it
         | probably the physical characteristics.
         | 
         | Freediver here. As humans, and more importantly mammals, we're
         | all surprisingly adaptable from a physiological perspective.
         | 
         | Check this out: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_reflex
        
           | Borrible wrote:
           | https://source.wustl.edu/2021/07/moon-to-engineer-
           | microbes-t...
        
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       (page generated 2021-11-21 23:01 UTC)