Jeju: volcanoes, lava tubes and sea divers

A volcanic island off the Korean peninsula, Jeju revolves around Hallasan, South Korea's highest mountain, and a tradition of female underwater divers that UNESCO recognizes as intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

A rental car remains the most practical way to connect the sites scattered across the entire island.

Seongsan Ilchulbong, the 'dawn peak', is a volcanic crater overlooking the ocean formed by an underwater eruption about five thousand years ago, today accessible by a short climb that reveals one of Korea's most photographed panoramas.

The lava cave of Manjanggul, one of the world's best-preserved lava tubes, is traversed for about one kilometer among lava stalactites and a natural column seven meters tall—among the largest ever documented in a volcanic tunnel.

On rocky coastlines, the haenyeo still appear: women divers who for centuries have fished mollusks and seaweed in apnea without tanks, a craft passed down from mother to daughter and now practiced almost exclusively by elderly women.

The Jeju Folk Village reconstructs traditional lava-stone and thatched-roof houses, demonstrating building techniques designed specifically to withstand the island's constant coastal winds.

The haenyeo who dive today without modern equipment tell of a relationship with the sea that the island's mass tourism has not entirely erased.

Between a volcanic crater and a lava tube, Jeju remains above all an island born from fire and then patiently shaped by water.