Jordfalls hamn 9/6 2024 Eh? is this thing still on?

Hi and ho!

Ok, it really has been a while, and not much diving has happened due to various reasons, and it seems like that will be continuing for a bit more.

Either way, managed to get a dive day during the weekend, so am quite satisfied with that, the spot was Jordfall marina, the go-to for easy but interesting diving. On this dive i also did some collecting of samples that i volunteered to do for a scientific study

Horseman anemone on a rocky outcropping

Dive 1: 

Depth 28 m, Time 54 min, Temp 9 C

Me and the buddy waded out into the bay as usual, our plan was to dive towards the right as there was a lot of people on the site on this day (a local dive centre having a small excursion there too). We had asked beforehand how the visibility was on this day (kind of windy), and had gotten the answer that above 15 m, the visibility was bad, while below, it was ok-ish. Said and done, we descended in line with the outer edge of the innermost jetty, and as it was said, the visibility was quite bad on the way down. 

Establishing visible contact with the bottom, we stopped up a bit and made sure that everything was a-ok before continuing on our merry way towards the right, following the soft sediment slope downwards. At about 18-20 m, the visibility cleared up a bit and actually got pretty decent, it was also around here where the thermocline sat, going from 15 C to about 9-10 C quite quickly (and one could feel that). We swam past anchoring blocks for the floating jetties, forests of Peacock feather-duster worms (Sabella pavonina) and huge fields of the soft bottom hydroid Corymorpha nutans. At about 25 m, we found a smaller area of rocky outcroppings, which had some of the hydroids i was ordered to sample (family Tubulariidae), so sampling was carried out with a little bit of shaking and swearing (those things really got stuck easily on our gloves). After doing the sampling things, we continued further. As we started to run lower on the NDL, we turned around and started swimming back, following the slope upwards. Soon after turning around, we came across another rocky outcropping that housed a huuuuge Horseman anemone (Urticina eques) with beautiful patterns, not the typical colouration though, a tad bit redder that one. At about 18 m depth on the way back, we encountered a field of tires and various pieces of trash, which i sort of marked in my log, so that we know the depth (because positioning underwater is next to impossible). As we got to our safety stop, the current had turned and was flowing outwards, which dragged all the lion's mane jellyfish out from the shallow waters and our way, so we spent the safety stop dodging and weaving from jellyfish stingers.

We ended the dive at 54 minutes, got up and made ready for a surface interval in the sun :)

Norwegian red sea cucumber (Parastichopus tremulus), a species that you usually see a bit deeper down

Dive 2:

Depth: 30 m, Time 40 min, Temp 10 C

After hanging out in the sun, we headed out once more to dive, this time, we planned to dive towards the left side, along the more common route of Jordfall marina. We descended and began following the slope outwards and to the left, soon hitting the "forest" of Tall Sea-pen that is present at around 25 and down in this area. We swam around a bit before it was time to start heading up, on about 24 m, we came across the rocky cliffs that goes down in a "stair steps" sort of way, forming plateaus at various depths, it was also here we found a large swath of Tubulariidae hydroids, where another sample was promptly taken. It was at this point that my NDL started to get real low, and we had to speed up our ascent a little. The NDL didn't quite clear either until we reached about 12 m.
Either way, we did our safety stop and ended our dive at 40 minutes, making it a little shorter than normal for the summer season.

All in all, it was nice to be back in the waters again for a proper dive

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Spotted dragonet (Callionymus maculatus) on the soft sediment bottom

Släggö 10/9 2022, Night diving season maybe?

 Hi and ho!

After a longer vacation from diving due to various circumstances, i once more should be back in the saddle. This week we went to our regular haunt of Släggö in Lysekil for diving. 

Close up look of a Peacock feather duster worm

Dive 1:

Depth 23 m, Time 64 min, Temp:15 C

Me and my buddy decided to swim along the wall, and man did we do it slowly, very very slowly as we were looking for smaller critters like nudibranchs. The visibility this day wasn't the best really, in fact it was quite bad, not the worst, but not the best either. As we swam along, we reached the part of the wall where there are a lot of Peacock feather duster worms on a overhanging area. I tried my hardest to get some decent photos of them, but as the current was facing our way, it was quite difficult to do. After trying for a bit, we continued onwards until it became time to turn around and make our way back towards the starting point. 

We surfaced at 64 minutes got up and doffed our gear and got ready for our surface interval

Closer look of the same Peacock feather duster worm

Dive 2:

Depth: 14 m, Time 65 min, Temp: 15 C

We took a longer surface interval this day as we wanted to wait for the sun to set and do a night dive, hoping for squid. So we waited and waited until it was starting to get a bit darker before we started to make ready. We swam out a little bit from the pier before we started to descend, the other pair descended with us as well, as they too wanted to look for squids. Well, we started making our way along the bottom, looking in all the nooks and crannies for squid (but found none unfortunately). As we made our way, I spotted a pipefish in a nice pose, so i stopped for a little bit to try and photograph it, but that's where both me and my buddy went wrong, as after a bit i looked up and my buddy was nowhere to be seen, so yeah, i did look around for a bit before i started to head upwards to the surface in order to look for their bubbles. Well on the surface i found their bubbles quickly, swam over and went down in a huff to link up with them once more, but after doing that, i had to ascend again, as i had forgotten to equalize, and it was starting to hurt real badly. After i managed to clear out the equalization, we continued the dive in a slow and orderly manner. And as it got darker and darker, the fish became more and more active, truly, night diving is the best type of diving. We surfaced at 65 minutes, got up from the water and started making ready to head back home once more.

All in all, despite some of the hiccups, it was a nice dive day, and lesson learned, keep a better eye on photographer buddies :)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Dragonet posing nicely in front of the camera

Hällebäck 19/6 2021 Summer and sun

 Hi and ho!

This weekend was one of very nice weather, not too warm, yet sunny enough, which is perfect for drysuit diving. We went to the site of Hällebäck, a site close to our other sites, which we used to frequent, but don't do much anymore due to unknown reasons. 

Goldsinny wrasse hiding among the 

Dive 1:

Depth: 26m. Time: 57 min, Temp: 15 C

Me and my buddy jumped into the water rather quickly as we had gotten a bit warm on the surface while kitting up. Well into the water, we started to do a surface swim to get to a good spot for descending and quickly finding the cliffs of this site, which tend to be rather interesting and brimming with critters. As both of us were carrying cameras, we took it slowly along the wall, so slow in fact, that the other dive group passed us by. Not much of note on this dive however, there was some dragonets out and about, as well as a lot of Harbour swimming crabs. At about 25 minutes, it became time for us to turn around again and make our way back to the starting point.

We ended the dive at 57 minutes, got up and doffed our gear for the surface interval.

Football jersey worm crawling along the seafloor 

Dive 2:

Depth: 29m. Time: 43 min, Temp: 15 C

After a nice relaxing surface interval, we once again headed out for a dive. This time, me and my buddy swam out a little bit further, which resulted in a very straight down descent down to about 20 m. After finding the bottom, we continued following the slope and cliffs towards the left side. As we swam along the wall, I spied a thin line-looking thing, which with a closer look, turned out to be a Football jersey worm, though a smaller individual. After staying for a bit and photographing it, I continued following the wall together with my buddy. 

As we did stay down at depth a bit longer, we soon started to run really low on No Deco Limit time, so we had to make a rather hasty retreat upwards again, until we hit about 10 m, where we could once more relax a bit. We ended the dive at 43 minutes, got up and started making ready to head home again.

All in all, it was a very good dive day, could have been better visibility, but it was decent enough :)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Orange-brown aeolid on blade of eelgrass.

Hällebäck 19/2 2022 Crabs crabs and more crabs

Hi and ho!

This weekend, we first decided upon one site, but in the car, on the way to the site, we decided to go to a site nearby instead, in order to get a bit of a change, as we have dived the first site quite a lot recently. Another reason for choosing this site, was that i know that there is great chance for seeing Norway king crabs this time of the year. 

Harbour swimming crab with a rather peculiar carapace colour pattern

Dive 1:

Depth: 25 m, Time: 41 min, Temp: 6 C

We jumped into the waters from the pier and swam out from there for a bit before deciding to descend. As we descended, we quickly realized that the surface visibility was completely garbage, brown and muddy, as it had been raining and snowing for quite a bit the night before. So we could barely see each other, even if we were rather close  But as soon as we got to about 5-6 m depth, it cleared up, though it was pitch black in the water due to no sunlight reaching down (this was mid-day) and a lot of particles in the water. We followed the slope downwards and to the left of Hällebäck soon finding the wall. As we were following the slope, one of my buddies signalled for me to come and look at something, which turned out to be a swimming crab with a marbling I had not seen so far. So i spent some time to snap some photos to document it, and after getting home and consulting different sources, I identified it as a Harbour swimming crab with a rather uncommon carapace marbling. As we reached the wall, we followed it towards the left, looking for Norway king crabs and other critters of Gullmarsfjorden. And king crabs we did indeed find, three of them to be exact. After a little while, my buddies signalled to me that it was time to turn around and swim back towards the starting point. At about 15 m (I think), one of my buddies come up to me with a wing dump valve in their hand, after checking that it wasn't mine, I deduced that it was theirs, and that we had a bit of a smaller situation on hand, but we did continue in a relatively relaxed manner until we reached our safety stop. At the safety stop, the buddy that wasn't having a wing dump valve issue, signalled that they saw something, this something turned out to be a Norway king crab, and the shallowest observation of the species I've ever made. Unfortunately, Ii also managed to whip up an enormous silt cloud as I was turning around and trying to photograph it, so that was a thing too.

We surfaced at 41 min, got up and enjoyed warm chocolate in the somewhat nice weather.

One of the Norway king crabs

Dive 2:

Depth: 25 m, Time: 41 min, Temp: 6 C

After a surface interval, we got ready to head out once more. After some searching for a lost fin in the shallows (and grumbling from me due to the extremely bad visibility) we started swimming out to about the same spot we went to on the previous dive before we descended. Not much to say about this dive really, as no big thing really happened, all went according to plan really. On this dive, I observed Redback sea slugs grazing on oaten pipe hydroids, as well as some more king crabs.

We surfaced at 42 minutes and got up to get ready to head home, but as we were getting out of our gear, it started snowing once more, and it was rather wet snow too

All in all, i am very satisfied with the dives this weekend. 

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Redback seaslug, a common species around this time of the year

12/2 2022 - 13/2 2022 A not too good weekend really

 Hi and ho!

This weekends diving wasn't really the best I've had to be totally honest, It was a weekend of harsh weather and rain, but nonetheless, a few of us went out to dive because we love diving so much. 

Long nosed spider crab, a smaller species that is easy to mistake for a piece of algae

Dive 1: 12/2 2022 Släggö

Depth: 26 m, Time 41 min, Temp: 5 C

We got to the dive site and saw that the winds were going straight into the bay and that there was some significant wave action, nonetheless, we decided to dive here, a mistake it would prove (should probably become much better at thumbing sites and go somewhere else). Either way, after much getting bashed by the waves, we got a bit further out and started descending. As we descended we discovered that the visibility was not the best, but on the other hand, after a few meters down, the waters became surprisingly calm, not showing any signs of the raging waves above. We followed the slope, keeping relative close to one another. There wasn't really much to see on this day in the shallower parts, but as we started to get a bit deeper down, things started to appear, for example, some dragonets, as well as different types of crustaceans. After a little while, one of my buddies signalled to turn around, and that we did, swimming back in somewhat of a hurry, as they were running low on gas. We surfaced at 41 minutes, and climbed up the ladder they had installed at Släggö while the original pier is being rebuilt. Fortunately, the winds had lessened a bit, so the waves wasn't as bad at this point. 

We decided after this dive, that today was a "1 dive only" kind of day. So we packed up our stuff and got ready to head home again. All while making plans to dive a different site come the next day.

Extreme close up of an Edible crab

Dive 2: 13/2 2022 Jordfall

Depth: 19 m, Time: 42 min, Temp: 5 C

On this day, we decided to go to a more protected site, so we didn't have to deal with getting bashed by the waves. So we choose Jordfall, as it is both easy and usually a lot of life in the water. So we headed out, planning to dive close to the cliffs and walls to the left side of Jordfall. When we started to descend, I noticed that there was a slight milkiness in the surface and as we descended, the visibility was rather bad, which was to expected, as the weather has been a bit violent recently. We continued to follow the cliff walls, keeping relatively shallow as we went. Not much was really out here either on this day, so i didn't snap as many photos. We surfaced at 42 minutes and got up in the freezing rain, making ready for a surface interval while planning the next dive.

A dragonet of undeterminable species

Dive 3:

Depth: 27 m, Time 35 min, Temp: 6 C

After a surface interval in the drizzling rain, we once again kitted up and headed out for a dive. This time, we planned for it to go out over the soft bottom slope in Jordfall, so we swam out to the end of the pier before descending. As we were descending, i had some problems equalizing on the way down, so i had to slow down quite a lot before i managed to clear it all, but after doing that, i could continue as usual. We quickly swam out over the slope, looking for possible signs of king crabs or squids, as it was quite dark deeper down. But all of these creatures did not show up, and in the middle of the dive, my camera ran out of batteries, as i had forgotten to turn it off on the surface. Oh well, such things happen, but was still a bit infuriating. Luckily, there wasn't really any interesting out on this day and dive either.

We soon turned around and started to swim up more shallow, as our No Deco Limits were starting to run low. We surfaced at 35 minutes, making this a shorter dive really.

All in all, despite the really bad weather and conditions, it was some OK dives, not the best, but not the worst either.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Dive trip 3/12- 5/12 2021. Club excursion to the "polar region".

 Hi and ho!

This weekend, the dive club had their yearly winter excursion to Lysekil, combining it with the last parts of the CMAS** course we've had during the autumn. The weather was clear but windy, which in combination of damp ocean air and minus degrees temperatures was really cold if i have to be totally honest. like really freaking cold even. But regardless, we still went diving :)

Rock gunnel (Pholis gunnelus) hiding in the algae on the bottom

Dive 1:

Depth: 18 m, Time 25 min, Temp: 6 C

After some retakes due to insufficient weighting, somewhat leaky drysuit (not mine this time) and other stuff, we started descending quite close to the pier in Släggö, We began swimming outwards, following the sloping downwards. I have to admit that i did get a bit lost and we went a bit too diagonal to reach the usual spots of Släggö, instead we swam out over the soft bottom slope where one usually finds squids during night dives. But as it was daytime, no squids to be seen. Not much of note on this dive. But as we neared the 10 m mark, my buddy started corking, i tried to turn them around and get their  gas out of their suit, but that proved unsuccessful and i had to let them cork while i quickly ascended to the surface to make sure they were ok, which they were. We then swam back to the starting point and got up from the water. When we got up, my buddy told me they were soaking wet, which is less than ideal when it is sub zero temperatures in the air as well as quite windy.

Small frilled anemone on the side of a sunken rowboat

Dive 2:

Depth: 20 m, Time: 50 min, Temp: 6 C.

After lunch and some time to rest, it was time for the night dive part of the course, and of course the other non-course participants like me were doing a night dive as well, no way we were gonna miss this. Well, my previous buddy didn't participate due to their suit being sopping wet and that we discovered that there were holes in the arm seals (and the neck seals was extremely bad too, the dive centre really shouldn't have even had this one out for renting i feel). So i dived with another group instead on this dive. We entered the waters and descended almost immediately in order to look for the lumpsucker that has set up shop. We didn't see it this dive, but alas, tis fine, I've seen it quite a few times already. We started swimming diagonally across the bottom, heading towards the area where one usually can see the squids. At about 18 m, we encountered the thermocline, which was really quite deep down this time. Here it was about 10 C, but as we didn't stay for too long either, we didn't get to enjoy it for quite as long. After turning around and swimming back for a little bit, i noticed a small shape on the bottom, finally, a squid! So of course i had to stay a little bit and photograph the critter. As i was photographing, some of the other dive pairs came up to us to look at the little squid. We swam back and surfaced at 50 minutes, got up and started loading our gear into the car, preparing to go back to the hotel.

The squid!

Dive 3: 

Depth: 12 m, Time: 30 min, Temp: 6 C

On the second day of diving, we first went to Släggö once more for some of the last course stuff, and to just have a nice easy dive after breakfast. I paired up with my buddy from yesterday and we jumped into the water in short order. We quickly descended after that and almost immediately found the lumpsucker hanging out. Unfortunately, i had forgotten to remove the camera cover, so no photos of the lumpsucker this time, as i had to faff about with removing the lens cover underwater, with drygloves on (i managed to do that, but by then the lumpsucker had moved away) Well either way, we continued for a bit more along the bottom, following the line and the slope. While my buddy did have some issues with buoyancy and trim, they did sometimes lie really beautifully in the waters :)

Well either way, at about 12 m, i sort of felt that we shouldn't go deeper, as my buddy was flailing around quite severely right there and then. So i signalled that we were to turn around, which was probably for the best. We swam back in orderly fashion and i once again got a bit lost on the way back. But it wasn't too badly off course from the pier. We surfaced at 30 min and got up, my buddy said they had been leaking from the neck all dive, so they quickly got into cover to change into dry clothes, as it was still rather windy here.

Dahlia anemone with very clear banding

Dive 4:

Depth: 27 m Time: 51 min. Temp: 10 C

After packing up our things and heading out from the hotel, some of us decided that we were to do a last dive in Skår, the dive site close to the ferry terminal in Gullmarsfjorden. 

Me and my buddy descended quickly as soon as i felt it was deep enough, we soon found the dropp off and followed the wall closely, trying to get to the thermocline as soon as possible. The thermocline was found at about 14 m depth this time, which was quite shallow compared to the thermocline the evening before. Well, either way, we continued following the wall downwards. After about 25 minutes, i made signal  to turn around, as we had to swim back too after all. So we turned around and started to head back. As we neared the end of the dive, i spot a small shape on the sand bottom, turned out to be a sand shrimp, which promptly dug itself down into the sand as soon as i got close, but i managed to snap a few photos before it completely burrowed down. We surfaced at 51 minutes, and it was cold in the surface, so we quickly got up and started to doff our gear. Making ready to get home.

All in all, It was a nice dive trip :)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Sand shrimp (Crangon crangon) peeking out of the sand

Släggö 20/11 2021 Squids squids and more squids

 Hi and ho!

This weekend the weather was atrocious, with cold rain and whipping winds, but that matters not really when you are underneath the surface of the sea after all, but on the surface it is less pleasant. So we went to Släggö, as there is roof where one can change into dive gear without getting rained on. Either way, Släggö is a good place to find squids on, which one of the goals were this time around.

Greater pipefish peeking out of some loose algae

Dive 1:

Depth: 29 m, Time: 72 min, Temp: 11 C

We descended almost immediately after jumping in and making sure that everything worked as it should in the water (well minus my leaking ring system, but i'll work on that when i have time), as we had heard that there was a lumpsucker in the shallows close to the pier, after descending we turn around a few degrees and there it was, my photographer buddy kept following it, while i stayed a bit back to wait for it to settle down, but alas, that never happened, so i had to chase it around as well, all while my buddy kept hogging the fish, frustrating me a little bit there. Either way, after we were done stressing the poor fish out (didn't get any photos of it this dive), we started swimming outwards, which took a while as the shallower part does stretch for quite a bit. after 22-ish minutes we finally got to the slope and started to get a bit of depth on our dive. As we got down to about 20 m, the visibility started getting worse and worse with increasing silty haze, the kind that one usually start encountering at 25-30 m depth on this site. In addition, we started encountering currents at these depths, which wasn't too much, but still enough to push us away, so we decided at this point that we were to turn around and get more shallow, where the visibility was much greater. When we crested 16 m, one of my buddies spotted a squid on the bottom, which of course was promptly photographed for a while, it was also around here that I spotted a Great pipefish trying to hide in a piece of loose brown algae. After some dancing around, I managed to snap a few photos of it. We continued upwards, taking it nice and slowly as we usually do, even though it was a bit colder in the water right there and then. On the way up, we spotted two more squids, which naturally got photographed as it usually goes. 

We surfaced after 72 minutes, got up and prepared for a surface interval with hot coco.

Lumpsucker that has set up shop right beneath the most active dive sites on the Swedish west coast

Dive 2: 

Depth: 16 m, Time: 62 min, Temp 10 C

After a surface interval, with some chocolate bars and hot coco, we once more headed into the water, like the first dive, we descended almost immediately after jumping in and quickly found the lumpsucker once more, this time, i managed to snap a few photos of it before I left it be and we continued the dive. On this dive the plan was to keep it more shallow, as there was really not much to see below 20 m depth on this day, instead we headed towards the right side, over the shell gravel bottom, in order to look for more squids. As the bobtail squids we usually find prefer soft mud or shell gravel bottoms. As we swam over the eelgrass beds I spot two rather well camouflaged pipefishes among the eelgrass. Unfortunately they weren't very keen on getting photographed, so that was a bust really, they kept waving back and forth, not letting my camera focus properly, so no photos there, despite my best efforts. We continued along the sloping bottoms, looking for the small shapes or glittering points which signal the presence of squids on the bottom. We managed to find three throughout the whole dive, so i guess that wasn't really so bad. As we swam along, we saw in the distance, lights from other divers, as well as the huge silty cloud that followed them, might have been partially the reason why the site was so silty this time around i suspect. Either way, after 30 something minutes, i signalled that we were to turn around, as we had been in for quite a while at this point. So we turned around and started swimming back to the starting point. At the safety stop, i got a bit bored and started doing some valve drills, which apparently made one of my buddies think i was having some problems, so they came up to me and signalled me that we were to go up. Well, we surfaced at 62 minutes, got up and made ready to go home.

All in all, despite the rain and wind (and leaking suit), it was an enjoyable dive day, with lots of squids.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Action shot of a Common bobtail

Släggö 6/11 2021, Diversnight

 Hi and ho!

This weekend was the weekend of Diversnight, the international night dive event where divers gather and dive together, making the sea light up like the starry skies. Well, the starry skies were very much absent this year, as the surface weather was absolutely atrocious, with winds and pouring rain, right into the dive site, not that it mattered underwater, but just saying.

Grey gurnard crawling along the bottom

Dive 1:

Depth: 26 m, Time 54 min, Temp: 13 C

Me and my two buddies swam out to about the buoy that marks one spot in Släggö, when we reached the buoy, we started descending into the water column, unfortunately, i didn't manage to fix the leak in my glove system, so yeah, there was some slight leakage into the glove, but nothing immediately alarming. Either way, right as we descended and were getting our bearings in the water, i spot a small long shape in the algae and eelgrass, with a closer look it was a Great pipefish trying to camouflage itself. So of course i had to stay a bit to photograph it. After I deemed that I had bothered the pipefish enough, we continued along the slope as we usually do, making a sweep over the soft bottom before heading towards the cliff side. On the soft bottom were the usual suspects of harbour swimming crabs, as well as some grey gurnards crawling across the seafloor. After a little while we turned towards the cliff, so as to have a reference on the way back. As we swam along the wall, we saw that the lobsters and squat lobsters were quite active at the time, as it was dark after all, some even out in the open. We surfaced at 54 min, got up and prepared for a windy and rainy surface interval, though we soon went up to the dive centre to get away from the worst of it.

Common bobtail, one of many encountered this time

Dive 2

Depth: 23 m, Time: 43 min, Temp 13 C

Now this dive was the big Diversnight dive, so me and my buddy jumped into the water, but waited until they rang the clock before descending into the water column. This time we swam towards the right side of the bay, as we had been told that there were squid to be seen over there. After a little bit, my buddy signalled me to come and look at something, turned out to be the first squid of 5, this particular one was standing quite raised up from the bottom, so i stayed for a few minutes to photograph it as it was posing so nicely for me, a real little camera fiend i tell you! We continued after i was done with that squid, following the slope. As we were swimming, i spotted a fishy shape a little bit away, which i promptly swam closer to and saw that it was a Striped mullet, a fish that changes colour depending on time of the day. After photographing it for a little bit, we continued forward, finding many a squid and mullet before we turned around and started making our way back towards the starting point. We surfaced at 43 minutes, got up and doffed our gear before heading towards the dive centre for some grilled hotdogs and relaxing before we were to head home.

All in all, despite the atrocious weather on the surface, it was a nice and successful divers night event :)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Striped mullet on shell gravel

Jordfall 23/10 2021 Cold air, warmer waters and krills

 Hi and ho!

This weekend we went to our old haunt of Jordfall marina, a site we haven't been to in a while due to various circumstances, but at last, we got ourselves there. We also decided to go a bit later, as to get some night diving in, as the season is starting right now. When we got to the site, it was still somewhat warm in the air, so we kitted up, divided into pairs and started to head out into the water.

Close-up of a Plumose anemone, with the orange mouth part visible

Dive 1:

Depth 32 m, Time: 47 min, Temp 14 C

Me and my buddy had planned to do a sweep over the deep soft bottom, so we swam out to the end of the marina before descending in free water. As we descended, the first few meters was quite low visibility, but that cleared up pretty quickly, though there was much particles in the waters. We headed outwards and slightly to the left, following the slope. As there was a lid of brownish fresher water on the surface, we were hoping to see squids on this dive, but no squids were to be seen on this dive, instead, there seemed to be a lot of the starfish Luidia sarsii, a close relative to the Sand sea star (Astropecten irregularis), on this day. After a while, my buddy signalled that it was time to turn around and swim back towards the starting point. We surfaced at 47 minutes, got up from the water and got ready to do a surface interval.

Luidia sarsii a starfish found on soft bottoms, similarly to it's relative the Sand sea star

Dive 2

Depth: 27 m, Time:44 min, Temp: 14 C

After a surface interval with some hot drinks and trying to keep up the body heat a bit, we got ready to head out once more. Now it was significantly colder in the air compared to when we arrived, so it was a bit of a pain to keep warm and going. We also did some change around with the pairs, as one in the other pair felt like they didn't want to do a second dive, feeling a bit cold and all. So three, including yours truly, headed out into the water for a second, somewhat shorter dive. The waters were warmer than the air, so it was honestly a bit of a relief to get into the waters. We once again planned to do a sweep over the soft deep bottom, looking for squids and the like. We descended at the end of the floating pier and started following the slope downwards. On this dive, almost immediately me and my photographer buddy got swarmed by krill that swam in the light from our camera lights. It was almost to the level of being annoying, there was that much krill, but as they kept flitting about in front of the lights, it was impossible to photograph them properly. As we turned around and started swimming back, we came across the smaller Fireworks anemone that can be found at about 25 m on the slope in Jordfall. Unfortunately i didn't manage to snap a good photo of it :(

We surfaced at 44 minutes, got up and doffed our gear, making ready to head home.

All in all, it was pretty nice of a dive day, but next time i gotta prepare more warm beverages, or chocolate before the dive

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Sand seastar, with a nice visible pattern

Släggö 17/10 2021 A beautiful autumn day.

 Hi and ho!

This weekends we went to Släggö in Lysekil once more, we had originally planned to go to some site in Gullmarsfjorden, but due to various reasons, we decided to go to Släggö instead this day. The weather was forecasted to be sunny, if a bit cold, we were hoping that there would be a bit of a lid layer on the surface this day, as "night" diving during this time of the year is super nice, but when we got to the dive site, we realized that there would be no significant lid on the surface this day, the waters seemed somewhat clear this day. Oh well, it be what it is.

A small Sand goby that decided to sit down for a bit and allow itself to be photographed.

Dive 1

Depth: 29 m, Time: 52 min, Temp: 14 C

We swam out a bit before descending, as we wanted to have some depth from the beginning, though not as far as i usually force my buddies to surface swim. We descended quickly and started swimming following the slope downwards, taking it easy and slowly, photographing as we went. Out on the soft bottom, i spotted a small shape crawling about across the ocean floor, turned out to be a small Gray gurnard, which I of course had to photograph for a little bit. No squids on this dive though... After a while, i did the signal for turning around, as we had been down for about 25 minutes at that point, and in order to get back to the starting point within the time we had told the surface people, while also not stressing, we sort of need to turn around at that time point in my experience, so we began swimming back, again, as we closed in on the shallow, we started to look for a Lumpfish that was supposed to lurk close to the guiding line in Släggö, but alas, we lost the line on the way up and did not manage to find the lumpfish on this dive.

We ended the dive at 52 minutes, got up and made ready for a surface interval with food and relaxing.

This was the first time i spot the starfish Luidia sarsii on a dive

Dive 2

Depth: 29 m, Time: 57 min, Temp: 14 C

After food and a nice surface interval, we once again made ready to head out into the water. The plan was the same as before, do a sweep over the soft bottom and head back following the cliff wall and the caveline. So said and done, we swam out, and started descending at about the same spot as the dive before, as we got down, it was quite a bit darker at this point, as the sun was sort of setting right then. On this dive, i spotted a few more gurnards skittering about on the bottom, the first one kept skittering into the camera lens, which made focusing on it to take photos a bit of a challenge, the second one was a bit more chill, letting itself be photographed for a bit before swimming away. Didn't manage to get a photo of the third one as there was a huge silt cloud coming in right as i was about to start, oh well, got some nice ones of the two others instead, so that matters little. We continued over the soft bottom for a bit before one of my buddies signalled that it was time to go up a little bit, soon after that, they also signed that it was time to turn around. We swam back following the wall until we found the cave line, which we promptly began to follow too in hopes of finding the lumpfish on this dive instead, but to no avail, no lumpfish found. We surfaced at 57 minutes, got up and started doffing our gear, getting ready to head home after a nice long day of diving.

All in all, it was a nice dive day, even if the site was one of the more boring ones (we later heard that they had spotted shark on one of the sites inside Gullmarsfjorden the same day)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Grey gurnard crawling along the ocean floor

Släggö 3/10 2021 Why are we doing this?

 Hi and ho!

This weekend's weather has been atrocious, with pouring rain and strong winds all weekend long. Nonetheless we decided to go diving because we are utterly and completely insane all of us😃. The dive site for this weekend was decided to be Släggö in Lysekil, a easy and somewhat protected site where one can change underneath a roof which is very nice when it is raining like it was this weekend. So, we arrived on the dive site and quickly got into the drysuits, as it is much nicer to kit up like that when it is raining outside. After getting our gear ready, we divided into groups and headed out for the first dive of the day.

Longspined bullhead (Taurulus bubalis) hiding among the algae in the shallow part

Dive 1:

Depth: 27 m, Time: 41 min, Temp: 14 C

My dive group swam out towards the corner of the cliff before starting to descend, before descending, i had to help one of my buddies with a leaking dryglove system, turned out to be a O-ring that had gotten wedged a little bit, but that was soon fixed. We descended into the water and the visibility was terrible, but we pressed on, going deeper, and it started clearing up at about 10 m depth. We swam along the slope and cliffs, getting out to the deeper mixed soft sediment bottom. Here it was as dark as a night dive, which is normal for the season, and thus the night diving season has sort of started for us. It was at this point I spotted a small shape flitting about in the light from the camera rig, with a closer look I realized it was a small squid. So I immediately went about to photograph it, but to no avail, it was constantly swimming into the lens of the camera, making focus impossible. Well, after swimming around trying to get some kind of focus on it, I gave up and continued the dive, now following the slope upwards towards the cliff walls and rubble areas. It was around here one of my buddies signaled that they were at 120 bars and it was time to turn around, so that we did. A little bit after turning around, I look down on the cliff wall for a bit and spot a enormous Lumpsucker in a crevice. After photographing (and accidentally stressing out the poor fish) i swam away from it, leaving it be. At about the safety stop depth, I also spot a shape hiding in the algae, turned out to be a small conger that was too shy to peek out, so no photos there either.

We surfaced at 41 minutes, got up and got ready for a surface interval.

The poor Lumpsucker that got quite stressed by our presence around it.

Dive 2

Depth: 28 m, Time: 43 min, Temp: 14 C

After a surface interval and some food and hot drinks, we once again made ready to head out. This time we did some re-shuffling of the pairs, though i still ended up with one of my previous buddies, as we both had double tanks. Once again, me and my buddy swam out a bit before descending in a orderly fashion and followed the slope downwards once more. Though i think we sort of topped the dive day on the first dive already, and this dive was much less exciting. We found the metal "Lean-to" that is installed on the bottom at 28-ish meters depth, where some spider crabs and some squat lobsters were hanging about. We swam around the structure for a little bit before continuing over the soft bottom, albeit a bit more shallow, as we were running a bit lower on NDL time. We swam along, following the slope and the wall, until we once again ended up in the shallower parts, where we ended the dive at 43 minutes.

All in all, i am satisfied with the dives of this weekend, even if the weather was completely and utterly atrocious.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Spiny squat lobster hiding on the "Lean-to" structure at 28 m depth in Släggö

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.

15/9-18/9 2021. A trip to Flekkefjord, Norway with Chalmers diving club.

 Hi and ho!

Now that our dear neighbour to the west, Norway, has opened their border after a year of plague and uncertainty, my club decided that now was a good time to take up the tradition of doing a longer dive trip to Norway, as the diving there is in a completely different class compared to Sweden. Said and done, the destination of the trip was decided to be Flekkefjord on the south western coast of Norway, reasonably far away from home. There is also a historical wreck there, the wreck of Gudrun, a WW2 ship that is located just outside of Flekkefjord.

Urticina eques, a beautiful anemone closely related to the Dahlia anemone (and hard to differentiate)

Dive 1: Gudrun 1

Depth: 35 m, Time: 46 min, Temp 17 C

We anchored the boat onto the float that marks the position of the wreck of Gudrun. Decided upon dive pairs and headed off into the waters. All divers descended following the rope in quite the quick fashion as a group, almost too quick really as i got some problems with equalizing at 18 m and had to stop for a little bit to clear it, but as soon as that was done we kept going. Gudrun herself came into view at about 20 m, meaning that there was about 7 m visibility straight down on this day. We came down on the rear of the wreck and all swam up to the big steering wheel in order to get the obligatory photos while posing with it. After photos were snapped, we split up into the decided buddy pairs and me and my buddy began swimming around the wreck, looking at the rudder, propeller and all the other things she had to offer. As Gudrun lies quite deep, me and my buddy didn't have that much time on her, even with the best gas mix for the depth we were on. So after a little while, we started to run low on time before deco, so we started swimming back to the rope in the rear and started ascending along it. In order to stretch out the dive as much as possible, I decided to ascend as slowly as humanly possible (and so i could try and photograph the critters on the rope too) As we were slowly making our way up, we started to see the second dive pair further down underneath us, but soon they also were at about the same depth as us at the safety stop. We surfaced at 46 minutes, got up in the boat and got ready for surface interval.

Star ascidian (Botryllus schlosseri), a colonial sea squirt

Dive 2: Torsøy

Depth: 10 m, Time: 65 min, Temp 17 C

The second dive of the day was decided to be closer to the Flekkefjord dive club house, as we had gotten out pretty late, nonetheless, we found a small bay relatively close to the starting point, parked the boat and got into the water. Here the bottom was quite similar to the type i am used to, muddy, with lots of smaller fish and decaying algae. Honestly this was quite a boring dive site, but nonetheless, me and my buddy kept swimming around. We surfaced at 65 minutes, got back into the boat about at the same time as the others, and drove home to the diving club house.

European painted top shell (Calliostoma zizyphinum)

Dive 3: Saueholmene

Depth: 28 m, Time: 62 min, Temp 17 C

We headed out to the outer parts of the archipelago, the weather was perfect, almost too perfect, with almost no waves out in the open and the sun shining brightly. We rolled into the water from the boat close to a cliff wall, swam closer by and started descending as soon as everyone was ready. When we descended, we discovered that this area was an area with plateau's on different levels and waving kelp forests. Though honestly i didn't get to enjoy it quite as much as my dive buddies kept swimming on like they were on some kind of schedule, or torpedoes trying to sink a boat or something. Either way, i was pretty ticked off by the time we ended the dive. Well, there was some pretty large fishes, mainly saithe swimming around in the kelp forest, which my buddies tried to hunt, but to no avail. We swam around for a while before we ascended to the surface, looking at the vibrant kelp forests and marine life.

We surfaced at 62 minutes, got into the boat and got ready to have a surface interval. while the other group did their dive.

Polymastia boletiformis A type of sponge.

Dive 4: Hunden

Depth: 23 m, Time: 39 min, Temp 17 C

After a surface interval we went to a place the other group had dived the day before, a small rock called Hunden (meaning "the dog") that jutted up right outside a bigger island. From the day before we knew this was an area where you could find and pick scallops. So we did some shifting around in the dive pairs and headed off into the water as the first dive pair. We swam on the surface until we got close enough to the small island that is Hunden. before we started to descend. The visibility on this dive was pretty ok still, though there was some particles in the water here. As we swam along, one of my buddies signal me to look at something, after looking a little bit, i realize it is a small Monkfish that is hiding in the sand. So i of course went up to it and started snapping photos for a bit. After i was done, we continued along the cliff and started to head a bit downwards. As we swam along the cliff wall, i was photographing some sponges when i spot a very pretty sea anemone a bit further away, when i get closer, i see that it is a Horseman anemone, and a beautiful one at that. So i excitedly began photographing it before letting the others close to it (as it usually is with me and photographing)

It was around here one of my buddies started to signal that they were running low on gas, so we began ascending shortly afterwards. At the safety stop, the first buddy tried to shoot their SMB, but the line had somehow gotten tangled, so i got to do it instead, this time it went pretty well :)

We surfaced at 39 minutes and swam back to the boat

European monkfish (Lophius piscatorius), though a very small specimen

Dive 5: Gudrun

Depth: 34 m, Time: 31 min, Temp 17 C

Once again we decided to do a dive on Gudrun, this time however, me and my buddy knew we had much less time on the wreck due to not being able to fill nitrox. We rolled into the water and quickly descended along the rope. down to the rear of the wreck. This time both me and my buddy got photographed with the big steering wheel, even though the photo of me did end up blurrier than the rest, oh well. After getting our photos snapped, one in the other buddy pair spotted a sizeable Lumpsucker in a crevide on the wreck, so i spent some time photographing that one before we split off from the other pair for our own dive. Me and my buddy swam around the rear of the wreck for a bit, even dipping down to the propeller before it was time to swim back along the surface line as we were running low on no deco time. We ascended slowly along the line and surfaced at 31 minutes. Got back into the boat and doffed our gear, getting ready for a surface interval with lunch.

Lumpsucker (Cyclopterus lumpus) trying to hide away from the camera (and the camera man)

Dive 6: Kålesundet

Depth: 30 m, Time: 28 min, Temp 17 C

The last dive of the trip was to a "unknown" 1700s wreck where there were some really large cannons spread out in the area. But as the exact position was unknown to us, we looked through the sea maps and position data on the internet and buoyed a spot where we thought was "appropriate" for this dive. Me and my buddy were the first pair in the water, we followed the buoy line downwards, but sort of lost it at 15 m depht due to various stuff, we did find it quite soon afterwards either way when we got a bit deeper. When we found the line again, we started seeing weird shapes a bit further way, when we swam closer, we realized that "holy guacamole! these be the cannons!" So we had managed to buoy the spot almost perfectly, we thus swam along the bottom looking at the cannons of the wreck, where they lay on the bottom, some being stuck in a upright position, others laying flat on the bottom among the rocks. At one, my buddy waved at me to come and look at something, that something turned out to be a medium sized lobster hiding underneath the cannon. I of course spent some time photographing it as i usually do. When i was done we continued on, albeit in the opposite direction, and soon afterwards, my buddy signalled that they were running low on gas. As we started to ascend, i realized there was quite the current going at about 10 m depth, so we were swept along for a bit. We surfaced at 28 minutes and got back into the boat in a orderly fashion, doffed our gear and got ready to be on boat watch as the other divers went diving (this was an area where we couldn't anchor).

All in all, it was a super nice dive trip, with almost perfect conditions.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Opening to one of the 1700s cannons on the bottom, this was the first of many.

Jordfall 11/9 2021 Back to the old haunts once more.

 Hi and ho!

This weekend's diving adventures takes us to the Jordfall marina on the southeastern side of Gullmarfjorden. A common site that has been off limits for a bit due to road work going on. The weather this weekend was less than ideal, with rain pouring down in the beginning of the day, but that cleared up later. We arrived at the dive site, quickly donned our suits as it was still raining by then, set up our gear and got ready to head out into the water.

Common sea pen, a close up photo

Dive 1:

Depth: 27 m, Time: 43 min, Temp: 16 C

We swam out to the cliff wall and descended into the water, during the descent i observed a large amount of gelatinous strands through the water column, must be the season and changing water temperatures. Either way, we followed the wall for a bit before starting to swim out over the soft bottom slopes. I kept photographing as usual while the others followed me. The water temperature was still quite warm, but there is clearly some cooling off going about right now, as it isn't as disgustingly warm anymore. After about 25 minutes, one of the buddies signaled that it was time to turn around. So we ascended a bit and started swimming back along the wall. We surfaced at 43 minutes got up from the water and got ready for a surface interval.

A small Painted goby looking into the camera.

Dive 2

Depth: 28 m, Time: 48 min, Temp: 15 C

After a surface interval with some rain at first, but sunny weather after a while, it was once again time to head out into the waters for a second dive. This time we were only two due to the other buddy deciding that they didn't feel like another dive for the day. Me and my buddy decided to go straight out over the soft bottom slope, so we swam out along the pier before descending at the end of said pier. In the surface this time there was a milky layer of silt as a result of runoff from land as it had been raining earlier. Underneath these few centimeters of milky water, it was still about as good (or bad) as the previous dive. We followed the slope downwards, looking at the animals as we went (and me photographing them of course) As we swam around, we realized it was pretty dark in the waters, almost dark enough for squid to start showing up, so I spent some time looking for squid, but to no avail, no squid found on this dive. After a little while, I was starting to run low of NDL and started swimming upwards a little bit as to not run into decompression time. We kept this up until we decided that it was time to start heading back to the starting point once more. At the safety stop I spent some time to try and photograph the small gobies that were flitting around, did manage to get some, but not very much, as these gobies are super small and quite hard to photograph. We surfaced at 48 minutes, got up and doffed our gear, getting ready to head home after a day of successful diving.

All in all, in spite of the weather in the beginning of the day, it was a day with very nice dives.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Broad nosed Pipefish, one species of pipefish that can be very well hidden at times