Panpo Port Jeju Snorkeling: Tide Times & Safety Guide

Just last week!!!

Right after hopping off the plane in Jeju,

we picked up our rental car

and headed straight to our very first destination!

Yep, the famous Panpo Port lol.

You can easily check the tide chart on Badatime before you go. All you need to look out for are the low tide and high tide times!!!

We rolled up exactly at 3:00 PM... only to find out it was peak low tide. Of course it was! 😂

Why does this always happen? So in the end...

We just ended up looking at the port and leaving. Lol.

Though we did end up coming back two days later...

First of all, the weather was super cloudy.

Wait, is this really the gorgeous Panpo Port I saw all over Instagram? Haha.

When the tide goes out, the water drains completely like this...

You can't even swim!

The deepest part barely reached waist-level.

Because it's a port rather than a beach, the water gets deep instantly unless it's low tide. Since you have to enter via stairs, you can't just wade in gradually like you would at a sandy beach.

Arm bands or life jackets are absolutely essential here.

There are rental shops right at the entrance of the port, and plenty more tucked into the side alleys. If you didn't bring gear, I highly recommend renting some!

I've tried quite a few different arm bands,

but the ones that inflate on only two sides are way more comfortable than fully cylindrical ones.

The round, cylindrical ones are a nightmare to take off when wet!

I noticed some people were even fishing during low tide.

As for parking, there are only a few spots right at the port entrance. If you drive further down the road, there is more space to park,

but overall parking is limited. It's bound to be a struggle during peak summer season.

Apparently, due to a high number of diving accidents, there are rumors they might ban swimming here starting next year. Honestly, I can see why...

There are stairs near the entrance of the port, but when the water is completely drained,

they get covered in seaweed and algae...

It honestly looked a bit uninviting to step into. Haha.

The difference between high and low tide is absolutely massive here!

Believe it or not, these two photos show the exact same spot.

The water level drops so low that the sandy bottom is completely exposed.

Most diving accidents probably happen when people jump in during the transition from high tide to low tide without realizing.

When we went during high tide, the water depth was easily at least 10 feet...

The contrast is wild.

On our first day, we actually saw an emergency response team arrive. Someone had scraped their foot badly on the sharp rocks.

Please, please be careful out there!

We spotted some cool wild cacti growing along the path while walking back to our car.

Two days later, we returned to Panpo for some actual swimming.

This time, those same stairs were mostly submerged! You could barely see the top few steps compared to our first visit.

Honestly,

we checked out a couple of other beaches on the island first, but absolutely no one was in the water.

So we came back to Panpo as a last resort, hoping we’d find at least a few brave souls swimming here.

And boy, was it a challenge. The water temperature felt like a freezing 50°F! It was so cold that I got instant goosebumps the second I dipped my toes in.

We only managed to snorkel for about 30 minutes before calling it quits.

Brrr... 🥶

We did manage to spot some fish ranging from tiny 2-inchers to larger ones about 12 to 20 inches long.

But seriously, it was so cold that even the people diving off the walls were just complaining about the temperature. Lol.

Who knew Jeju in mid-June could be this chilly?

I thought summer was supposed to be here by now!

We were going to head straight out, but we were so frozen and miserable that we stopped by a nearby rental shop.

Best ~$4 we ever spent on a hot shower before driving back.

And of course, the second we decided to leave, the sky cleared up beautifully. Classic travel luck! ☀️