Fossen 26/9 2021 One last dive for the season.

 Hi and ho!

This weekend I am once again back in Sweden to my regular haunts in Gullmarsfjorden. We decided to go to the Fossen dive spot, as they were about to close for the season, thus cutting off access to the dive site until April next year. But it matters not, there are several other dive spots that are open for divers year round in the area around.

A small Orange-clubbed sea slug on a piece of fallen down algae.

Dive 1

Depth 30m, Time :54 min, Temp: 14 C

Me and my buddy swam out to the left side of the bay before starting to descend close to the cliff wall there. We had heard from other divers at the site that today was a bit on the silty side, which we discovered was the case indeed. We followed the wall downwards and towards the left, not seeing much bottom, so there still remain some questions of exactly how deep it is, though the nautical chart tells that there is an area that exceeds 40 m right around there. Either way, we swam along the wall, photographing as we went, though I was having problems with my gear for a little bit, as I had forgotten to lubricate the o-rings of my trigger on my camera housing, so it got stuck a few times before it loosened up, which ruined a few photos. After about 24 minutes, my buddy signalled that it was time to start heading back towards the starting point, so we ascended a bit to shallower depth and began the swim back. We surfaced at 54 minutes, got up from the water and prepared to have a nice surface interval in the sun.

Leopard goby, a fish you usually don't catch out in the open like this.

Dive 2: 

Depth 30m, Time :44 min, Temp: 14 C

After about 1 h of surface interval in the sun, we once again made ready to head into the water. Me and my buddy took to the left side once more in order to try and explore the wall even further. We swam out a bit further before starting to descend this time, the waters were still rather turbid, with a very distinct halocline (no thermocline to speak of though). We swam along the wall, photographing as we went, and this time my camera housing did not act up :)

During this dive I observed that there was quite a lot of White sea urchins on the wall from 28 m and below. After about 20 minutes, my buddy signalled that it was time to turn around, so we once again ascended to a shallower depth and started making our way back to the starting point. Above the cliff walls, it was sort of a sloping soft sand/mud bottom with many hermit crabs scuttling about.

We surfaced at 44 minutes, and thus ended the last Fossen dive for the season.

All in all, it was a nice dive day, though the visibility could have been better, but it was a very clear halocline for this time of the year.

So until next time! Keep on Swimming!

A large Dahlia anemone found in a crevice on the cliff.