A funny thing happened when I met these Korean mermaids …

Accidental tourist Heather Clancy has a Jackie O moment on a Korean island

I'm quite sure I've only eaten carbonara once for breakfast. I remember because I was trying to convince Hye, our prim tour guide, to visit the famed Museum of Sex and Health, while I slurped creamy spaghetti as if my only model for eating had been that scene in Lady and the Tramp.

Arriving on Korea's Jeju Island from the Miami of Korea, Busan, Hye seemed to be regretting her career choice as she rejected the idea of the scandalous museum.

After smoothing her twinset several times and mumbling what might have been her resignation, suddenly she seemed to cheer up and said: "We visit the teddy bears instead, okay?"

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The Teddy Bear Museum is one of Jeju's top attractions. It was easy to see why as we posed for selfies with Nativity Scene teddy bear, Elvis Presley teddy bear and, of course, Joan of Arc teddy bear. We were just about to take a solemn selfie with the teddy bears of The Last Supper when Hye instructed us that it was time to visit the swimming grannies. That's not a phrase to be considered "lost in translation" - we were quite literally due to visit the swimming grannies. More than that, we were apparently late.

"They don't like to wait," Hye said sternly.

We arrived at the deserted cove to discover a gaggle of laughing grannies emerging from the water with their bounty in hand.

"It's just like Baywatch," my boyfriend astutely noted. Known as the haenyeo (sea women), the female divers of Jeju are famous for their steely determination, mermaid-like lung capacity and incredible strength. But I will always remember them for an all-together different reason.

Skipping even a moment to dry off, the swimsuit-clad gogos began preparing a feast for us without so much as a furtive nod. With only the crashing waves for a soundtrack, the sea women worked swiftly and silently. I even stifled a sneeze so as not to disturb their spell. And then, as if by magic, all at once there was a spread of grilled squid with a huge bottle of Texas Pete Hot Sauce as the centrepiece.

"Yummy, yummy!" Hye offered as a toast as we sat crossed-legged in a tight circle. I was grateful that our conversation was limited to exaggerated hand gestures and energetic bouts of nodding because it allowed more time for me to savour what was the best meal I'd ever had.

However, when I removed my sunglasses it seemed to create a stir. As if my face-swallowing sunglasses had totally obscured my face and now I was finally revealed, the grannies gasped and appeared, unbelievably, to be excited.

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I was confused and increasingly self-conscious. Even my own grandmothers had never shown such excitement about my face, even when I was a button of a six-year-old with a gap-toothed smile and a sprinkle of freckles. 

Noticing my embarrassment, Hye offered a noncommittal, "It's cool, it's cool," and my cheeks burnt hotter than Texas Pete Hot Sauce. Alarmed at what I imagined to be my lobster-red shade, Hye laughed and added, "You're like Jackie" as if that was sufficient explanation.

It turned out, the sea women thought I resembled a young Jackie Kennedy.

"Very chic," Hye offered as a final salve for my embarrassment.

Throughout this exchange, my boyfriend had only stopped laughing to poke me in the ribs with a "Hey Jackie!"

I'd been compared to many B-grade actors and even a soapie star so this was quite a leap up the social ladder and I began to embrace it as such when the grannies ignored Hye's and my boyfriend's requests for seconds, instead piling my plate high and serving me with a coy smile. Oh, Jackie!

Life was good.

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