Göteborgs skärgård 27/6 2021 Marina and Gattulven

Hi and ho!

This weekend we decided to do something different, namely boat diving. However, there wasn't any space left for us on the boat in Lysekil, so we decided to do a boat dive in the Gothenburg archipelago, with the newly opened dive centre Dyk-kiosken Öckerö.

The hull of Marina af Hönö

Dive 1: Marina af Hönö

Depth 26 m, Time 45 min, Temp: 14 °C

The first dive we decided to visit the most popular wreck in the archipelago, Marina af hönö, a trawler that sank 2006, and lies between 18 and 26 m depth. To reach this site, divers usually have to swim through a narrow sound before getting to the other side of the island where the ship lies right below the drop-off. So, we dropped in from the dive boat and swam through the narrow sound, all while being battered by the waves, as this day the wind was coming from the south, which meant straight into the sound from the open sea. Well, the wind wasn't too bad, and as soon as we got out on the other side, we started descending. After descending to a suitable depth, we started swimming with the cliff to the left side until the shape of Marina started to come into view in the water. The visibility this day must have been around 7-10 m, so pretty good for Swedish conditions. Like always, Marina was covered in large amounts of sessile sea life, like corals, Frilled anemones and sea squirts. This day there was fewer fish swimming around the wreck, but that might have been due to a previous group of divers having been there right before us. We swam around Marina for a bit, looking at the marine life, as well as the rubble on and around the wreck site. After a while, it became time to start ascending, which we did, following the cliff wall upwards. As we surfaced, we once again did a surface swim through the narrow sound and back to the dive boat, where we with some effort got back into it (let me tell you, doubles and diving rib boats are not the easiest combination). 

A male Cuckoo wrasse, one of the most colourful fishes in all of Sweden

Dive 2: Gattulven.

Depth 22 m, Time 58 min, Temp: 14 °C

After a surface interval with coffee, talks and food, we set out once more to dive. This time the site was north of the island of Vinga, as the wind was picking up ever so slightly, and most sites were open towards the south, meaning where the wind came from. Either way, we arrived at the site and got into the water, we were instructed to swim with the rocks to our right side. We descended into the water column and started swimming downwards to escape the swell of the waves, but to no avail, the swell could be felt at 15 m too. As we swam about, one of my buddies signaled me that i was to look at something, turned out to be a beautiful male Cuckoo wrasse that was just hanging out by a rock. I managed to snap a few photos before it decided that enough was enough, and swam away. We continued our dive, observing several cuckoo wrasses in the area, but all of them were too skittish to photograph. 

We ended the dive at about 55 minutes and surfaced at 58.

All in all this was a super nice dive day, and a good test for the new dive centre.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Common sunstar crawling about the seafloor