Haenyeo culture is often described as rare, resilient, and deeply communal. What is less widely known today is that, on rare occasions, outsiders—especially foreigners not originally from Korea—are also allowed to enter this tightly knit world.

In Jeju, Haenyeo have long belonged to women’s work. What people rarely know today is that there are also Haenam—male divers who walk a far rarer, steeper path into this deeply female-centered tradition.