Sandvik 27/9 2020. Muck, walls and soft bottoms

Hi and ho!

This weekend me and my buddies went to a site we don't go to as often, Sandvik, which is the dive site furthest into the fjord i know in this area. We decided on this spot due to simply wanting a bit of change.

We arrived at the site, surveyed it, divided ourselves into dive pairs, kitted up and got ready to go into the water.

Swimming crab hiding in the sediment

Dive 1:

Depth: 24m, Time: 47 min, Temp: 16 °C

We swam out to a spot we deemed appropriate for descending, when we reached this particular spot, we rested a bit on the surface before we started descending. We descended quickly and began swimming towards the north west as soon as we could see the bottom. We soon found the wall at about 20 m, which we followed for a little bit, photographing as we went. After a while, we hit turning pressure and started swimming back towards the starting point again. As we swam over the mud bottom that was the seafloor I saw that there was a lot of sea-squirts littering the bottom, both the kind that is found at bottoms, and the kind that usually grows on more solid substrates.

We surfaced at 47 minutes, almost exactly at the same spot we started the dive on, after surfacing, we swam back to the shore, got up and prepared for a surface intervall. 

A cluster of Sea vase tunicates

Dive 2:

Depth: 24 m, Time 48 min, Temp: 16 °C

After a surface intervall with coffee, it was time to get into the water once more. This time i had to join another buddy pair, as my original buddy only wanted to do one dive that day (with diving wet and all, i understand that). So, we did a quick shuffle in the dive pairs and set out for the second dive. We first swam to about the same starting point as the previous dive and started descending from there. This time, we went to the right instead following the wall there for a bit. As we were swimming there, one of my buddies signalled that they were seeing something close to a pair of rocks, I swam closer, to see, and behold! A european lobster was peeking out of a burrow underneath the rocks, so i tried to take at least some photos of it before we continued downwards. After a little while we turned around and started swimming to the left instead, which we did until we hit turn pressure, after which, we started swimming back to our starting point again. We surfaced and got to the shore once more, thus ending the dives for the day.

All in all it was a nice dive day, even if the dive site was a bit on the "muddy" side.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

European lobster peeking out of it's hidey-hole

Ormestad 27/6 2020. Heatwave and sweet thermoclines

Hi and ho! 

Peacock feather duster worm, a tube dwelling species of marine worms.

This weekend me and my buddies decided to go out in the "nice" weather for a whole day of diving and bbq on the beach. Said and done, we decided to go to Ormestad, the best land diving wall in all of the Gullmar fjord. When we got there we realized how sweltering hot it was (32 C, while not much for many countries, is rather hot for us Swedes), but nonetheless we were determined to dive. So we kitted up as quickly as possible and rushed to the waters in order to escape the heat.

Dive 1: 

Depth: 26 m , Time: 47 min, Temp: 9 °C

Devonshire cup coral

Me and my buddy decided to dive the main attraction of Ormestad, namely the wall. so we swam out to it and started descending. When we hit 5 m, it was like hitting a wall of cold air as we penetrated the thermocline, which was rather shallow this dive. It went from 20 C waters to sub 10 C waters almost immediately, which was a nice escape from the sweltering heat up on the surface, the visibility also became so much better, going from about 3 to about 10 m. We kept descending, following the wall, photographing as we went. As always, the wall of Ormestad just kept giving, with huge amounts of Peacock feather duster worms, sealoch anemones and other organisms. As we lay on about 25 m depth, I saw some of the other divers in our group coming our way, quite the distance below us (maybe about 5 m), when they passed underneath us, their bubbles unfortunately silted the wall for us as there was a slight concave shape on the all between us, but such is life. Me and my buddy turned around and swam back at about 120 bars left, as we had decided upon on the surface.

When we got up on land again, we took off all the gear and prepared for some nice bbq.

A school of Herring with some nice ambient lighting

Dive 2:

Depth: 16 m, Time: 55 min, Temp 9 °C

After bbq, and some resting to digest the food, we decided to once again get into the water. This time the plan was to keep it a bit more shallow, while diving on the same wall. So said and done, we kitted up and began swimming towards the cliff once more. We descended in a fashion similar to the previous dive and began following the wall. As i used a different tank than usual, i was a bit "off" in my trim, but it was manageable. On this dive I photographed some different species of starfish, including a Henricia. sp starfish, as we were swimming back, we both spied a large male of Cuckoo wrasse, but alas, it was impossible to photograph, I did however manage to get a somewhat decent photo of one of the females that was hiding in a crevice, so there is that :)

As we got up, we heard that it was starting to rumble in the distance, signaling that there was a thunderstorm coming in, so we packed our stuff quickly and finished up in good time before it all broke loose 

Henricia. sp, 

All in all, it was a super nice dive day, even if the surface temperature was pure torture this day in a drysuit.

So until next time. Keep on swimming!

Female Cuckoo wrasse, not as colourful as the male, but a nice beauty nonetheless

Släggö 28/9 - 2019. Bättre än förväntat.

Hej och hå på böljan den blå.

Europeisk hummer (Homarus gammarus)

Större kantnål (Sygnathus acus)

Denna vecka var jag och mina dykkompisar ännu en gång vid Släggö, en av de bästa landdykplatserna på svenska västkusten. Prognosen för lördagen var... låt oss säga... illa, med stora regnmängder inkommande. På vägen till Lysekil tycktes detta vara fallet, men när vi väl kom fram började det klarna upp. Vi fyllde gas hos Den lokala dykshoppen i Lysekil och gjorde upp dykplan för första dyket. "Leta hummer". Sagt och gjort, vi gick ner en bit från bryggan och simmade utefter klipporna för att leta hummer. Hittade ett par stycket lite här och var men dessa var gömda under
stenar och i klippskrevor.

Fläckig sjöckock (Callionymus maculatus)

Efter ett ytintervall var vi redo för det andra dyket för dagen. Detta dyk planerade jag och min dykkamrat att simma lite längre ut, ungefär där vi vände och sedan gå ner för att se vad som fanns längre bort. Vi simmade vidare utmed klipporna och ut mot djupet. När vi nått 30 så märkte jag att min vänstra handske läckte vid exakt 30 m. så jag gjorde tecken för att maxdjupet var nått och att vi borde gå upp en bit. Under dyket såg vi vad jag tror var 3 exemplar av juvenil Långa (Molva molva) bland många andra saker. Vi såg även ett par övergivna hummertinor, varav en var färsk och höll på att spökfiska. Den spökfiskande tinan tog vi prompt hand om.

Allt som allt var det en mycket lyckad dykdag

Så tills nästa gång. Simma lungt  

Röd brännmanet (Cyanea capillata)

Berggylta (Labrus bergylta)

Simkrabba (Liocarcinus spp)

Ormestad 28/4-2019, Krabbor, Hummer och cylinderrosor

Henricia spp

Tjenare!

Cylinderros (Cerianthus lloyidii)

I helgen var jag tillsammans med CDK ute på dagsutfärd till Sveriges enda och bästa tröskelfjord, Gullmarsfjorden, närmare bestämt, Ormestad. Denna dykplats består av 2 olika sorters dyk: Simmar man åt vänster förbi båthamnen kommer man till en klippa som sluttar rakt ner i vattnet. Följer man denna klippa kommer man till en vägg som går rakt ner till ca 80m. På detta väggdyk ser man ofta Påfågelrörmask, sjöpungar och diverse fiskar och skaldjur i skrevorna. Är säsongen rätt (mellan Januari till Juni) kan man även med god chans se trollkrabbor sitta lite varstans från 12m och neråt. Simmar man åt höger istället kommer man till en botten som sluttar neråt i platåer i typisk gullmars-stil. Här kan man mycket fisk och nässeldjur som lever på mjukbotten samt även krabbor, havskräftor och ibland även rocka!
 Just på denna dyktur såg jag cylinderrosor, krabbtaskor, trollhummrar och en liten hummer bland stenarna och ute på lerbotten. Vi var lite oroliga med vädret då prognosen sa att det skulle regna under dagen. Men när vi kom fram till dykplatsen så var det bra väder, och det blev bara bättre under dagen.
Sikten var god under dyket, med några få lager av dåligare sikt på grund av olika salthalter. Temperaturen börjar närma sig 10 grader i ytan så man känner att sommaren kanske har börjat komma :)
Det är nästan så att man börjar känna sig lite lätt bortskämd med alla bra dyk man har haft på sistone.

Ser fram emot nästa dyk och vad som kan tänkas ses där.
Så tills nästa gång. Simma lungt

Havsros (Urticina felina)

Europeisk Hummer (Homarus gammarus)