Hällebäck 21/1 2023 And we're back in business!

 Hi and ho!

It has been a while, mostly due to Christmas holidays and people not being available. Either way, we should be back in business now (yeah totally not jinxing it).

This week, we went to Hällebäck for diving, as it is the season for King crab and nudibranchs right now, and Hällebäck is a very good site to find them at.

First Deep-sea King crab (Lithodes maja) of the year, winter is the best season for them.

Dive 1:

Depth: 32 m, Time: 51 min, Temp: 5 C

We jumped in and did a surface swim until we were in line with the second jetty of Hällebäck, which is a good place to start descending. We gathered up a bit on the surface, as we realized on the surface that there was a brown freshwater lid on the top, limiting visibility to the extreme. Well, either way, we started descending and at about 6 m, the waters started to clear up a bit, though still a bit gunky. As soon as we found the bottom, we started to follow it outwards and to the left, looking for the king crabs and other things that make this time of the year interesting in Hällebäck. After a few minutes of swimming and searching, I chanced to look up on the wall, and lo and behold, a king crab sitting there. After staying around and photographing it for a little bit, we continued on, following the cliff walls. At about 20 minutes, we turned around and started to make our way back towards the entry point again. We surfaced at 51 minutes, feeling a bit cold and miserable, looking forward to the warm drinks we had prepared for the surface interval :)

Typical Spiny squat lobster (Galathea strigosa) photo

Dive 2:

Depth: 23 m, Time: 45 min, Temp: 5 C

After a good surface interval, it was time to head back into the waters, this time we were planning to dive towards the right side instead, keeping it more shallow, while also looking for squids. We descended closer to the jetty that we jumped in from. After descending, we followed the slope towards the right side. Not much was seen on this dive really, probably because of the season and temperature in the water, though there were some critters out and about in the darkness. The seafloor however, did look quite barren and also quite a bit "dirty" in a sense, maybe next time, I should take a photo of it, for scientific documentation?

Once again, we turned around at about 20 minutes, making our way back to the starting point once more. We surfaced at 45 minutes, got up and started doffing our gear and make ready to head home.

All in all, it was a nice first dive of the year, if a bit cold, but that's to be expected for the season.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Close up of a Daubed shanny (Leptoclinus maculatus)

Hällebäck 4/12 2022

 Hi and ho!

This week me and my buddies headed for Hällebäck together with some people from the Lindome dive club (a club my dive club has close connections with), the weather while a bit cloudy, was quite ok for this time of the year.

Fountain anemone (Sagartiogeton laceratus)

Dive 1:

Depth: 30 m, time: 48 min, temp: 10 C

Me and my buddy decided to do the first dive towards the left side of the dive site, as the right side is better when it is dark outside. The left side has a stair-like area of cliff shelves where it in the spring usually is good for finding king crabs, but as it is autumn, no king crabs, but instead other critters were present, such as hermit crabs, wrasse and sea anemones of different species. However, on this dive I somewhat struggled to find the balance in the water, which went on the whole dive really, just couldn't find the balance i usually got for this kind of thing. The shutter trigger for the camera housing was also acting up, so have to fix that too. Either way, got some ok photos on this dive. When we hit our margin time for No Deco Limit, we started to go more shallow, while also making our way back towards the start of the dive site. 

We surfaced at 48 minutes, got up and made ready for a surface interval with hot drinks.

Close up of a bobtail squid

Dive 2: 

Depths 23 m, time: 47 min, temp: 10 C

Once we had done a bit of a surface interval, and the sun had been down for a little bit, we once more headed out for a dive. This time, we were joined by another person from Lindome dive club, while my other buddy was making ready, me and the Lindome person discussed some plans and signs, as they most likely wanted to continue the dive when we were going to turn around, and as they are a experienced solo diver, that was OK with me. So, once my other buddy was ready to go, we swam out a little bit from the pier we jumped in from before starting to descend. We quickly descended to about 5-6 m and started following the bottom outwards, looking for squids. And at about 20 something meters, i do indeed spot one (the only one on this dive), so we stayed around it for a little bit (and it probably got annoyed with us). The rest of the dive was quite uneventful, and as me and my buddy signalled to turn around, the Lindome person signalled that they wanted to continue the dive on their own, so we just left them to their own devices, as we had discussed before. Me and my buddy swam along the slope, slightly upwards and to the left side. At about 8 m, I spotted a very blue coloured baltic prawn, which I of course had to photograph, and while the shutter trigger was still acting up, I got some decent photos of it.

Me and my buddy surfaced at 47 minutes, got up from the water and started to doff our gear making ready to head home again.

All in all, this was a very nice dive day, even if the waters in the surface are cold right now at 8 C (still warm by February standards though).

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

A very blue Baltic prawn (Palaemon adspersus)

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 5/3 2022

 Hi and ho!

This weekend, we once again decided to go to Hällebäck, as it is a good spot for both hard cliffs and soft bottoms, though, slightly better for deeper hard cliff bottoms. Also, parking is free there, so that's another factor.

Face photo of a Redback seaslug

Dive 1:

Depth: 27 m, Time: 45 min, Temp: 5 C

We began with swimming out quite far, a little bit too far for my tastes, so we had to swim back a little bit before descending. We descended in a sort of chaotic fashion, as we sort of lost contact with each other during it (I might have descended a bit too fast too). When we got down to the bottom, I also lost one of my fins, which i promptly grabbed and put on again. After sorting everything out, we began following the bottom, soon finding the cliffs and plateau's of the dive site. We followed the wall towards the left, with me and my photographer buddy looking for the small critters that like to hide. 

As we swam along, we spotted nudibranches of different kinds, mostly Redback seaslugs, but also a few Frond eolis. After a little bit, our other buddy signalled for us to come and look at something, this something turned out to be a Rugose squat lobster hanging out on the cliff wall there. At about 20 minutes, we turned back as our photographer buddy had hit their turning pressure, and it was also starting to get a bit cold. We swam back in a orderly fashion, though as we started to near the more shallow parts, it became evident that today there was relatively much currents, so we had to fight that as well.

We surfaced at 45 minutes and got up to have a nice surface interval.

Frond Eolis (Dendronotus frondosus)

Dive 2:

Depth: 29 m, Time: 38 min, Temp 5 C

After a surface interval, we once again went out into the waters. This time, we didn't swim quite as far before descending. This time, we descended in a more orderly fashion, keeping together the group somewhat better. We followed the slope downwards and outwards. On this dive, there wasn't really much of note, other than three Norway king crabs that is, which has been somewhat consistent with diving in Hällebäck right now. 

We surfaced at 38 minutes, as we had gotten a bit cold on the previous dive, and warming up this time of the year is a bit harder.

All in all, it was a nice day of diving

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Norway king crab, quite common this time of the year in Hällebäck

Hällebäck 27/2 2022 Sunny side up

 Hi and ho!

This weekend's weather was absolutely fantastic, with shining sun and relatively warm temperatures for the season. And naturally, there was diving to be had as well. Though this time i went with some people i haven't dived with in a while. We once again decided on Hällebäck, as we wanted to have a bigger chance of Norway king crabs.

Aequorea vitrina, a pelagic hydrozoan species. This one had a lot of gunk on it

Dive 1:

Depth: 32 m, Time: 45 min, Temp: 6 C

We descended into the water column, keeping relatively close, as the visibility this week was terrible in the surface waters and down to about 6 m. After 6 m depth, the visibility cleared up quite well, though there was much larger particles in the water, gelatinous gunk, which is common this time of the year.

Either way, we followed the slope down until we found the wall, where we instead started to follow it to the left instead, making our way down into the depth. On the wall, there were a few Norway king crabs hanging about as well as other critters. At about 20 minutes, we turned around and started to swim back. At about 6 m, one of my buddies were to shoot their DSMB, which we had planned on the surface. It was at this point we sort of lost contact with our other buddy due to the super bad visibility (or at least i did). When we surfaced, i found them again, so probably, they could see us, but i couldn't see them.

Norway king crab clambering on the walls of Hällebäck

Dive 2:

Depth: 28 m, Time: 47 min, Temp: 6 C

After a nice surface interval, we once again headed out into the water. Not much to say really on this dive, as this was sort of a routine dive, we planned it to be a bit more shallow compared to the previous one.

Honestly, it was a bit of a chaotic dive as i think i stayed deep a bit longer than i usually would, So i got very close to my NDL limits, so had to make my way up a bit quicker, and also forgetting to completely signal to my buddies (they followed still, but were a bit wondering) So i really need to get much better at that, guess I've gotten a bit too lax with signaling. Very well, it all ended well anyways, no "surprise decompression stops"

All in all, despite the somewhat chaotic second dive, it was a super nice dive day. 

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Redback seaslug crawling along

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

Hällebäck 19/4 2020. Aeolids and spring times

Hi and ho!

This weekend me and my dive buddies decided to change things up for a bit, as we have dived in the same spots for a while now, we decided to take another of our regular haunts, namely Hällebäck, a diving spot where we have seen many a king crab before, and that is relatively easy to access.
The weather was extremely nice, with shining sun, warm air temperatures and almost no wind.
We kitted up on the shore and prepared for a day of diving.

Dive 1

The White Sea Urchin (Gracilechinus acutus) has rather long spines

Depth: 28 m, Temp: 8°C, Time 33 min.
Me and my buddy swam out until we decided that we were far enough out for the descent. We descended in a orderly fashion to about 7 m before we could even see the bottom. When we could see the bottom, we slowed our descent down a bit and began following the bottom out to greater depth, at about 20 m, we found the cliff wall where many of our earlier observations of Norway king crab has been done, but this day me and my buddy saw none. We swam along the cliff, photographing as we went, when about 15 minutes had passed, i signaled for us to turn around and go back, as we had decided beforehand that we would try and keep the dive to about 30 minutes. When we reached the slope at about 15 m, we followed it diagonally until we reached the safety stop at 3 m, where we spent some time off-gassing as well as photographing Orange-Brown Aeolids, a type of nudibranch, that lives on soft bottoms and among Eelgrass.
When the safety stop was done, we ascended to the surface and swam back the last bit to land.

Devonshire cup coral (Caryophyllia smithii), small and unassuming, yet very abundant in some places

Dive 2:
Depth 9 m. Temp: 8°C, Time 57 min.

The Bluefire Jellyfish (Cyanea lamrarcki), Beautiful but painful to touch

After a 1 h surface interval, with some warming up in the sun, me and my buddy decided for a second dive. on this dive we decided to go to the right side of Hällebäck in stead, where it is a bit more steep, we also decided to keep a bit more shallow in order to search for nudibranches. Said and done, we descended in a orderly fashion and began swimming to the right, following the bottom. But alas, there was no nudibranch to see among the algae and kelp on the right, so when about 20 minutes had passed, we decided to turn around and swim back. when we surfaced again, my buddy had a lot of lost fishing lures in his hand, so we decided to go in to land and throw the old lures on the pier before going for a quick dive to the left instead. said and done, we descended to the left instead, however, at this point i had some problems equalizing, so i had to slow down for a bit. when i got that under control, we just swam around photographing nudibranches. After a while, we decided to go up again and end the dive.

All in all, this was one of the best dive days i've had in a long while.

So until next time, Keep on Swimming!

Orange-Brown Aeolid (Aeolidiella glauca), a nudibranch often found in eelgrass beds

Jordfall 27/6-30/6 2019 Sankt Pers fisk, Bläckfiskar och annat skoj

Hej hej hallå där.

Det var ett tag sedan sist. Min kamera floodade inte långt efter förra inlägget, och det tog tid att få tag på en ny. Fick en gratis actionkamera av en kompis till slut, men bildkvaliteten är inget att hänga i granen, bättre är det med videokvaliteten.
Men nu slumpade sig så att jag var på en dykutfärd med CDK helgen efter midsommar. Vi spenderade tre nätter på Jordfalls hamn och dök både där och i området runt om. Eftersom det vart så pass många dyk kommer jag bara nämna de mest intressanta.
På fredag kväll bestämde jag och några andra att vi skulle göra ett kvällsdyk efter middagen. Sagt och gjort, vi gick ner i Jordfall hamn och utefter botten ut på lerslätten som karaktäriserar Gullmarsfjorden, väl där nere, påträffade vi genast en cylinderros av viss storlek, samt skog av Stor piprensare och en del Signalsjögurkor. Mitt i denna skog av piprensare ser jag helt plötsligt en silhuett som ser ut som ett blad. Jag simmar närmare och kunde inte tro mina ögon! En Sankt Pers fisk (Zeus faber), en art som är relativt ovanlig i våra vatten! Efter att ha filmat den en stund började jag och mina dykkamrater röra oss vidare över botten, där vi med jämna mellanrum skrämde upp simkrabbor ur leran. När vi sedan började gå uppåt för att vända tillbaka ser jag en lite underlig silhuett över leran, vid närmare observation såg vi att det var en liten tioarmad bläckfisk, vid den här tiden på året? va? För er som inte är insatta, så brukar bläckfisk vanligtvis observeras under dyk i Oktober-Januari i svenska vatten. Vi stannade därför ett litet tag och tittade på den lilla bläckfisken, när vi var nöjda fortsatte vi simma uppåt och tillbaka till vår utgångspunkt i Jordfall hamn. På uppvägen såg vi hummer, trollhummer, krabbor, torsk och blågyltor.

På lördagen åkte vi ut på två båtdyk med Diveteam Lysekil. Den första dykplatsen kallades PPH (kommer inte ihåg vad det stod för dock) vilken var vid Kåvra Hummer-reservat. Som namnet antyder såg vi mycket hummer bland klipputsprången och bland stenarna. Den andra dykplatsen var lite närmare Lysekil, tror den kallades Flatholmen (?). Vilket som, dyket bestod i en vägg som gick ner till djupet. på väggen fanns många olika sorters fastsittande djur så som Död mans hand, Påfågelrörmask och havsanemoner.

På söndag, precis innan vi for tillbaka till Göteborg igen, Gjorde vi ett dyk vid Hällebäck dykparkering. På grund av pålandsvind så gick vi lite djupare. Väl nere på djupet observerade jag en hel del djur sås som smörbultar och simkrabbor. Då våra dykdatorer började visa att det var dags att gå upp så såg jag en randig sjökock väldigt nära mig, men på grund av att min kamera hade slut på batterier, bland andra orsaker, så fick jag den aldrig på bild.
Medan vi simmade uppåt, såg vi ett enormt sillstim som tycktes följa oss en bra bit tills vi kom up på säkerhetsstoppet vid 5 m djup. Väl på säkerhetsstoppet såg jag, för ett ögonblink, en ål simma iväg.
När vi bröt ytan såg jag och min dykkamrat att vi hade kommit en bit för långt, varav ett hyfsat långt ytsim följde.

Det var allt för denna gången, så tills nästa gång.

 Simma lungt!