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

Jordfalls Hamn 11/11 2023 Winter is comming

 Hi and ho!

This weekend we decided to head to the Jordfalls Hamn marina, one of our more frequented dive spots. The weather was nice enough, though a bit threatening with cloudy skies and a slight damp cold in the air (but hey, at least it wasn't too windy)

Spiny squat lobsters often come out in the open when it is dark

Dive 1: 

Depth 29 m, Time: 45 minutes, Temp: 10 C

Me and my buddy headed out into the bay as one usually does, while kitting up, we had planned the dive to either go straight out over the deep soft bottom if we deemed it dark enough, or head towards the left side and the rocky bottom if it wasn't dark enough. As we started to descend, I deemed it sort of dark enough to at least try and head straight outwards in hopes of squids, so that is what we did. Swimming outwards and following the soft bottom, we kept going until we hit about 29 m, after which we started to turn towards the left again (to be honest, 30 is a good stopping point, not really worth it to head down to 40)

We kept swimming along as we usually do, photographing as we went, at about 26 m, i spotted a small shape sticking out of the sand, turned out to be a angular crab (Goneplax rhomboides) digging down into the sand. We stopped for a bit and tried to photograph it, or at least try, as it was quite hazy in the water on this day. Well, after getting done with harassing the poor crab, we continued on until we found the wall, at which point we started making our way back to the starting point. It was at 12 m we started to realize that it is starting to become winter now, as the surface waters are colder than the deep waters, by about 3-4 C, Well, after suffering a bit on the safety stop, we ended the dive at 45 minutes, got up and made ready for the surface interval.

Angular crab doing angular crab things

Dive 2:

Depth: 31 m, Time: 41 min, Temp: 10 C

After having had a surface interval with hot drinks and stuff, it was time to head back into the water, me and my buddy once again made our plan to head almost straight outwards in hope of finding squid, so said and done, we swam out to the end of the pier in the marina and started descending down. Soon after getting visual contact with the seafloor, while making our way outwards, I started spotting Boston Facelinas, a type of nudibranch i have not seen in real life before (or just overlooked, they look similar to some other species). Well we did spend a few minutes photographing those before continuing on our way outwards. Not much happened on the rest of the dive really, but apparently i missed a squid while i was photographing a sculpin fish according to my buddy, they got some photos of the squid though :P
After a while, we started to run low on no-deco time and started to head back towards the starting point again, ending the dive at 41 minutes. When we got up, it was snowing ever so slightly, really heralding that the winter months are upon us.

All in all, i was satisfied with the dives of the day, despite the slight chill in the waters

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Boston facelina crawling on a piece of tire

Jordfall 14/5 2023. Starting to warm up.

 Hi and ho!

This week, the weather has been really fine, with sunny skies and high temperatures, but as it is still early in the year, the sea has yet to warm up. That being said, it is starting to get slightly warmer right now, so one can maybe forgo the winter vest.

Devonshire cup coral

Dive 1:

Depth: 29 m, Time: 55 min, Temp: 7 C

We swam out to the end of the pier before we started to descend into the water column and downwards. As soon as we got visual contact with the bottom and got our bearings, we started to make our way towards the right side of Jordfall marina, as we had planned to, following the slope downwards as we went. 

We swam along, making way towards the right side, following the bottom and slope. There was really not much going on here on this day, the water was rather pleasant though. When we got to whereabout the unexplored cliff area, it was about time to turn around (We really need to explore this area more me thinks). We started making our way back, but as we were also relatively low on no-deco time, we also had to make our way more shallow a bit quickly. We ended the dive at 55 minutes, got up and doffed our gear, making ready for a surface interval in the sun.

Fireworks anemone up close and personal

Dive 2:

Depth: 30 m, Time: 40 min, Temp: 7 C

After having had a surface interval with drinks and some food, we made ready to head into the waters again. This time we decided that we were to head straight out and towards the left instead, trying to look for Fireworks anemones. We swam out until we were in line with the pier once more before we started to descend and swim outwards in a relatively good pace. After a while, at about 28 m depth, we came across one of the Fireworks anemones that is usually present on this side of Jordfall, as well as some "forests" of Tall sea pens. Due to having gone deep on the first dive as well, we had to turn around soon after this, as we were starting to run low on both air and no-deco time. We made our way back, following the the muddy slope upwards and back to the starting point, ending our dive at 40 minutes.

All in all, I can say that this was a good dive day, if maybe a bit on the boring side, as nothing out of the ordinary happened, but then again, i think i prefer days when nothing is happening :)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Orange brown aeolid out on the soft mud bottom.

Jordfall 30/4 2023

 Hi and ho!

This week, the weather being nice, we decide that the site of the week was to be the Jordfall marina, as it is a nice fair-weather dive site. It is also a easy dive site, and as we were bringing someone who hadn't dived in a while, it was a good choice in my opinion :)

Sea mouse (Aphrodita aculeata), a species I haven't seen in a bit

Dive 1:

Depth: 27 m, Time 39 min, Temp 7 C

We swam out to the left side of the bay, close to the cliffs, before we started to descend. The waters were relatively murky due to spring bloom going at full force, the surface waters were decidedly warmer, but it quickly cooled down after 2-4 m, but without a clear thermocline. The halocline was however quite clear, despite the windy conditions that had been going for the last few days, showing as a blur at 8 m. We continued swimming as soon as everyone had gotten their bearings, following the slope and walls down and to the left. As we swam along, one in our pair signalled that we were to turn around again, and that is what we did, going more shallow. We ended our dive at 39 minutes, got up and got ready for our surface interval. When we were talking at the surface interval it turned out that the buddy who did the turn signal had been feeling uncomfortable and a slight panic at the depth, which cleared up as we got more shallow, which makes us suspect that it was a CO2 hit due to various factors on this day. Good thing it turned out well this time, and that they now know the signs of it.

Devonshire cup coral

Dive 2:

Depth: 28 m, Time: 44 min, Temp 7 C

After a surface interval, we decided to go for a second dive, we also decided to go more towards the right side of Jordfall marina, and that is what we did, I think we went further to the right than we have done before, as we came upon a wall area that i do not recognize, going quite deep it seems, might be worth it to investigate another week. This dive went much better for our other buddy, even if we went longer and deeper on this one, as well as into "uncharted territories". Which is good indeed I'd say (was a bit worried that they might be scared of diving after such a episode). 

At about 20 minutes, we started to turn around and head back to the starting point, we ended the dive at 44 minutes, got up and got ready to head home again.

All in all, I think it was a nice dive day, despite the slight hiccup of a CO2 hit on the first dive.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Fireworks anemone, seems like they move around, for this wasn't on that place two weeks ago

Jordfall 16/4 2023 Satisfying dives all around

Hi and ho!

Been a while once more, mostly due to lack of time from either my, or my buddies side. But here we are once more, so lets get into this weekend's dive adventures!

Thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata), a slightly uncommon sight at our dive sites

Dive 1: 

Depth 24 m, Time 57 min, temp 6 C

Me and my buddy swam out towards the cliffs to the left side of the dive site before we started to descend, having decided that this dive we were to follow the slope and cliffs instead of going out over the deep soft mud bottoms. As we descended, it the visibility showed to be relatively good for the season, meaning it wasn't overly good, but not completely bad either 😆

As we were swimming along the slope and cliffs (and I photographing) My buddy suddenly started to signal to me in a hurried manner. I turned around and they pointed with their light towards something on the bottom, took me a few seconds before I realized that it was a skate right there and then at 24 m depth! So naturally I was ecstatic, making sure to photograph it as much as possible. After spending a few minutes photographing it, I decided that it had been bothered enough and signed to my buddy that we were to turn back, as it is cold in the water, and 40 minutes is sort of a limit of how long I'd prefer to spend in the water right this season (and as you can see, we did go over 40 min, and my fingers were quite cold when we got up). Either way, we made our way back slowly but surely, making our safety stop and then ending our dive at 57 minutes. We got up from the water and onto land, making ready for a surface interval.

Deep sea king crab (Lithodes maja) out wandering over the seafloor

Dive 2:

Depth: 30 m, Time: 41 min, temp: 6 C

After a surface interval, we made ready to head into the water once more, this time, I made the plan to go "straight out" over the soft bottom slope instead. So we took a surface swim out to the end of the jetty before we started to descend into the waters. As we got visual contact with the bottom, we started following it outwards, maybe slightly to the right side. After a swimming a little bit, we spotted a nicely sized Deep sea king crab close to one of the jetty anchor blocks. After spending some time around it, with me photographing, we went on our merry way, continuing downwards. As we swam along, my buddy signalled me for a bit, showing another, even bigger king crab right to my side, which I of course tried to snap some photos of, but alas, this one was not too keen about that and started to walk away, so I just got a blurry photo of it. It was around this point that we were starting to get low on No Decompression Time, so we had to make a rather hasty swim back towards shallower depths again. We ended the dive at 41 minutes, got up and doffed our gear, making ready to head home after a day of very satisfying diving 😄

All in all, the dives couldn't really have been more perfect, though it is hard to top the first dive with a skate for sure!

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) crawling out of its burrow

Jordfall 12/11 2022, Night diving once more

Hi and ho!

This weekend we went to our regular site of the Jordfall marina for diving, it was after some debating and thinking that we choose this site as there has been a recent slew of trawlers getting dangerously close to the dive sites in the Gullmarsfjorden area. But we decided that the risk of getting trawled was somewhat negligible with how we dive on that site, as we don't go quite that far out.

Devonshire cup corals (Caryophyllia smithii)

Dive 1:

Depth: 30m, Time: 51 min, Temp: 13 C

We waded out into the bay, and quickly understood that this day was one of those days where the surface waters was a layer dark brown freshwater, likely forming a murky lid over the saltwater, and thus allowing for night diving condition, even at daylight hours. Me and my buddy swam out to the end of the pier and started our descent there. We kept close to each other, as the visibility wa really really bad. At about 5-8 m, the visibility cleared up, though it was clear that there was still freshwater mixing, as our movements still stirred up the water, making it a bit more turbid. This continued until we hit about 20 m. As predicted, it was almost pitch black underneath the layer of brown freshwater, a typical "Gullmarsfjord-lid", and that is just how we like it, as all the critters are less skittish in "night" conditions. 

We followed the bottom outwards to the deeper mud slopes of the site, looking for squids as we went, but alas, we didn't find any this dive.

After a while, we started to make our way back towards the starting point, taking it slowly (maybe a little bit too slowly, was being a bit chased by the No Deco time limit in some spots). We surfaced at 51 minutes, got up and doffed our gear, getting ready for a surface interval.

Great pipefish (Syngnathus acus)

Dive 2:

Depth: 27m, Time: 49 min, Temp 13 C

After a surface interval, we once again headed out into the water, now it had really become dark, so we were really hoping for squids this time around. Me and my buddy swam out the same way as we did the dive before before descending. When we got visual contact with the bottom, we started swimming slightly towards the right side, where we usually don't dive, in order to check for squids there maybe. After a while we once again started to swim towards the left instead, hitting the mud slopes once more. But no squids were seen by us on this dive either unfortunately, maybe it was due to the slightly mixed waters from 10 to 20 m depth that kept them away from our path.

We ended the dive at 49 minutes, got up and started make ready to head back home again.

All in all, it was a nice day for diving, even if the squids didn't show up this time.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Common hermit crab (Pagurus bernhardus)

Jordfall 15/5 2022 Should be back in business now

 Hi and ho!

It has been a while, due to various reasons, i have not been able to dive and photograph as much as i have wanted to since march. But now, i should be back in business with the regular diving once more.

Either way, this time we went to Jordfall due to one of my buddies having changed to doubles, and thus needed a easy dive spot to get used to their gear.

Sealoch anemone on a tunicate.

Dive 1: 

Depth: 17 m, Time: 45 min, Temp: 8 C

We decided to descend rather early in order to check that everything was ok with my buddy's doubles setup, after making sure that everything was ok for now, we continued following the slope towards the left side of the bay, taking it slowly but surely, there wasn't much else than that really.

After about 20 minutes i signalled that we were to turn around and go back to the starting point again. So we made our way back slowly. We ended the dive at about 45 minutes, got up and prepared to have a nice surface interval in the sunny weather.

Male Common dragonet, i rather like how this one turned out.

Dive 2:

Depth: 25 m, Time: 40 min, Temp: 8 C

After surface interval, me and my buddy decided to do a bit of a deeper dive, as they had felt good with their gear. So, we swam out a bit further before starting to descend into the water in a orderly fashion. We followed the muddy slope outwards, taking it slowly. At about 23 m, we encountered something rather unexpected in the form of a Norway King crab, which is a little bit out of season right now, they usually hide at much greater depths this time of the year. After spending some time to photograph it, we continued on our way, swimming towards the left as one usually does. At about 20 minutes, i once again signalled that we were to turn around and start making our way back to the starting point again. 

When we got to the safety stop and had just cleared it, my buddy almost immediately started floating up, turns out they had a little too little lead on them, which happens sometimes when you change your gear setup, but all ended well.

All in all, it was a super duper nice dive day!

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Norway king crab out walking.

Jordfall 5/2 2022 We are once again, back in business

 Hi and ho!

It has been a while for sure, I had to take a somewhat unwilling surface intervall due to a tendon inflammation in the thumb muscle, which made some movements painful to do, but after making a visit to the doctor and getting it checked out (and getting a thing to make resting the muscle a bit easier) I decided it was time to make a comeback to diving. 

Close up of the Norway king crab

Dive 1:

Depth: 31 m, Time: 48 min, Temp: 6 C

We planned to swim straight out until we reached max depth and then turn towards the left side over the soft mud slope in order to look for king crabs, as we had heard from some divers on the site that there had been some spotted. So we swam out a bit closer to the cliff before starting to descend into the water. As we descended, we realized that the visibility was ever so slightly not ideal, but not the worst I've seen on this site. After about 10 minutes, one of my buddies signalled that i was to come and look at something, turned out this something was a rather large Norway king crab. So we spent several minutes following it, trying to photograph and film it, which wasn't easy, as there were some severe silting around as we followed it downwards. After getting tired of harassing the poor crab, we turned and started swimming towards the left, looking for squids and other creatures of the soft sediment bottom. But nothing of note was really seen there. After a while, I signalled that we were to turn around, as i thought we had been down long enough, and so we did. As we neared the end, one of my buddies signalled that they were freezing, so they were to head up a bit quicker than me and my other buddy, though, we were not that far behind in terms of safety stop and whatnot. We ended the dive at 48 minutes, got up and doffed our tanks, preparing for a short surface interval.

Common bobtail squid on the bottom

Dive 2:

Depth: 27 m, Time: 42 min, Temp: 6 C

After a short surface interval, me and my second buddy headed out for a second dive. Our other buddy choose to stay on the surface, as they were still feeling cold due to a leaking glove. We once again swam out into the bay and out to the outer point of the marina before starting to descend. The visibility was still as bad as the previous dive, but that didn't deter us then, and wouldn't deter us now either.

At about 9 minutes in, i spot a small shape over the bottom, which with a closer look turned out to be a squid, so squid season is still going strong. Other than that, the dive wasn't really that eventful, but it sure was nice to get back into the waters again. 

We surfaced at 42 minutes, got up and started getting ready to pack up and head home.

All in all, it was a nice dive day, even if the visibility was on the not so good side and the temperatures were a bit on the low side. 

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Common grey sea slug going about its business 

Jordfall 30/10 2021, Night diving and leaky suits

 Hi and ho!

This weekend we once again decided to go to Jordfall marina in Gullmarsfjorden for night diving. As i had changed the ring system for the suit, installing something that will make changing ring systems in the future much easier, this was the "trial by fire" to see if they were correctly installed. We arrived at the site rather late due to various reasons, but that wasn't too big of a deal, as today's goal was night diving. 

Close up of a Henricia. sp Starfish

Dive 1:

Depth: 25 m, Time: 59 min, Temp: 13 C

We swam out in the bay and towards the cliff, getting a bit closer before starting to descend. As we descended, i started feeling a cold seep on the right side of my right wrist, it seems that there is a leak somewhere in the system, but the waters are not that cold so it would be too much of a bother on this dive, so I toughed it out as i usually do if there is a "not immediate emergency" kind of leak, and kept on going. A few minutes into the dive, my buddies start signalling me to come look at something, turned out that this something was a bobtail squid resting on the bottom, and rather shallow too. So i spent some time filming it, as i felt like trying to photograph this one wouldn't have worked really, but as soon as it had dug itself down into the sediment, i left it be and continued on with my buddies. We did get a bit off course a while after the squid, swimming out over the soft bottom slopes instead of continuing following the cliff wall. We did find the cliff wall again after a little bit of following the slope upwards. After a while of following the wall, i signalled that it was time to turn around, as we had been down for a while now, and i had said a max time of 1 h. So that we did, unbeknownst to me, it seemed that one of my buddies was a bit light, and had some trouble to keep themselves down. But my other buddy saved the day, as i was way too occupied with photographing and looking for subjects, as i usually do. Either way, we made it back all of us and surfaced at 59 minutes, got up and prepared for a surface interval with hot drinks and some snacks.

Angular crab posing with its big claws.

Dive 2:

Depth: 27 m, Time: 37 min, Temp: 13 C

After a surface interval, we once again headed out into the waters for a second dive, this time the plan was to do a shorter but deeper dive, and sweep out over the soft bottom slope. So me and my buddies swam out along the pier before starting to descend into the water, the suit still leaked on this dive, so i'm going to have to take a look at exactly were it leaked as soon as possible. Either way, we continued the dive as planned, maybe deviating a bit by going more to the right site, where the bottom was covered by mussel shells. Here one of my buddies signalled to me to come look at a rather beautiful Common dragonet male that lay there on the shells. After photographing it for a bit i left it be and we continued the dive along the slope, now turning towards the left instead as we had planned in the beginning. As we were starting to swim back, i spotted a weird, but familiar shape a bit away in the distance, a mature Angular crab male, with it's long claws extended in a defensive position. When i got a bit closer to it to take a macro photo, it started digging itself into the bottom to hide, which honestly was sort of endearing, so after snapping a few photos i left it be. Shortly after this, my other buddy signalled to come look at something, turned out to be another squid, though this one was less keen on getting photographed, so i only managed to get a somewhat blurry photo of it. 

We surfaced at 37 minutes, got up and started making ready to head home after a nice evening of diving. 

All in all, despite the leak, it was a nice dive evening

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Common dragonet male, a very pretty and colourful fish

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

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

Jordfall 30/5 2021 Night and day.

 Hi and ho!

This weekend was a very nice one, with clear skies and shining sun. The site for this weekend was Jordfall marina, due some other of our friends also going there for diving. We arrived at the site, got our gear out to the benches and started preparing for the first dive. As the weather was nice, it was also rather warm, marking the start of the summer diving season.

The Nodding hydroid (Corymorpha nutans) sometimes occur in great aggregations

Dive 1:

Depth: 23 m, Time: 55 min, Temp: 12 °C

Me and my buddy decided to dive the cliff wall on the left side of Jordfall, so we swam out to the end of the cliff, when we reached a spot we deemed good enough for descending. As we descended, we realized that there was a brown freshwater layer on the top and down to about 7m, effectively creating a lid where sunlight had problems penetrating into the water column. Making this a semi-night dive from the start, even if the sun was shining strongly on the surface. Me and my buddy swam along the wall, looking in nooks and crannies, as well as on the soft bottom. On the soft bottom we found a lot of Nodding hydroids (Corymorpha nutans), and among these, a huge number of nudibranchs, which turned out to be the nudibranch Cumanotus beaumonti a species that feed upon the hydroid and apparently is rather uncommon to see. As we kept swimming, i noticed some small dots flitting about, after a closer look, it turned out to be small bobtail squids. After trying to photograph them for a bit, not very successfully, we kept swimming until about 25 minutes, when i signalled it was time to turn around. So that we did, we followed the wall back and surfaced at 55 minutes, got out of the water and got ready for a nice surface interval in the sun.

Cumanotus beaumonti, apparently a uncommon species of nudibranch

Dive 2:

Depth 31m, Time: 46 min, Temp: 12 °C.

After a surface interval, it was time to get into the water again. This time, we also brought one of our other friends who wanted to do a second dive this day. This time we had decided to go deep over the soft bottom. So we swam out to the edge of the jetty before we started descending. We swam out over the soft bottom slope, looking around for critters on the mud bottom. Down on the deep part, one of my buddies signalled me to look at something, it turned out to be a Norwegian red sea cucumber, a species that i have been searching for, for a rather long time now. So yay! now i have it. We also saw one of the Fireworks anemones during this dive, the one at 24 m depth.

We surfaced at 46 minutes, cutting a bit shorter as i had rather little NDL time left, but hey sometimes it be like that.

All in all, we had a really nice dive day, and the species we saw this time was out of the expected, but then again, always expect the unexpected in Gullmarsfjorden!

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Norwegian red sea cucumber (Parastichopus tremulus)

Jordfall 2/4 2021 Fireworks anemones and nudibranchs

 Hi and ho!

This weekend me and my buddies went to the Jordfall marina, a popular dive spot in Gullmarsfjorden on  the Swedish west coast. The weather was nice too, so it was a beautiful day for diving. We arrived at the spot in regular fashion, got the gear out of the car, divided into buddy pairs and got ready to head out into the water.

Spotted dragonet, with it's beautiful blue patterns on the pectoral fins

Dive 1

Depth: 32 m, Time: 46 min, Temp: 5 °C

Me and my buddy swam out to the end of the pier where we decided to start descending. We descended in a orderly fashion, keeping close to each other, as the visibility was very bad. After a bit, the visibility cleared up quite nicely, giving us a vis of about maybe 5 m. We followed the bottom down and towards the right side of the marina, where one seldom goes. After a while, we found a sunken pier, signaling that we had gone very far to the right and that we should probably start swimming to the left. Said and done, we started to swim towards the left, until it became time to turn upwards due to me running low on gas. When we found the cliff walls, we started following them towards the right, as one does when diving Jordfall. We ended the dive at 46 minutes. During this dive, we found a third fireworks anemone, one that we did not know of in Jordfall, as there are two relatively known ones at about 28 and 30 m depth. We found the third one at about 30 as well.

Fireworks anemone, not really a sea anemone, but close enough

Dive 2: 

Depth 30m, Time: 39 min, Temp: 5 °C

After a surface intervall, with lunch and relaxing in the nice weather, we got ready for a second dive. Like the first one, me and my buddy swam out to the end of the pier before descending. We followed the slope down and outwards, to the deeper parts of the site. Where we swam around for a while, looking at the sea pens and other sea critters. At about 29 m depth, I spotted a little something a bit away, turned out to be the nudibranch Armina loveni, a species that is rather uncommon to see due to its burrowing behaviour. After a while, it became time to head upwards, as I was starting to run low on gas once more, so we started swimming back towards the starting point. We ended the dive at 39 minutes

All in all it was a very nice dive day, with lots and lots of fun critters out and about.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Armina loveni is a uncommon species to encounter

Jordfall 31/10 2020. Two more for the list

Hi and ho!

This weekend we once again decided upon doing some night dives, and as usual, the site was decided upon on the way to the sites. Once again it was decided to be in the Jordfall marina, as one of us was there doing their dive master examination, which fit us rather well. Said and done, we arrived at the site late in the afternoon with food and drinks for our buddy at the site, got our gear out and started preparing for the dives. After setting up, we divided into pairs, made our dive plans, geared up and started to get into the water.

Close up of a squat lobster, look how beautiful the colours are.

Dive 1:

Depth: 31 m, Time: 36 min, Temperature: 11°C

Me and my buddy got into the water and swam out to the end of the jetty before we started descending. Like the week before, the surface waters were somewhat brown due to the freshwater flow from land bringing humus into the top layer, but as soon as we got underneath it, the vis cleared up much more. We immediately started following the slope downwards in order to search for squid. As we were swimming downwards, I spot something peculiar at the edge of my light cone, as I got closer I realized it was a crab, and a species I've never seen before. So I started photographing it, unfortunately it was very skittish and started running as soon as I got closer, meaning that there was no close up photo of this one. Later when I had gotten home and had access to my books and sources, I found out that what I saw was an Angular crab (Goneplax rhomboides), a species that is recently immigrated to Swedish waters.

After leaving the crab be, me and my buddy continued our dive, looking for squids and other creatures, but no squids were to be found in the deep this time. After a while, it became time for us to start ascending, as we were both getting low on No Deco Limit time and gas, so we followed the bottom upwards again. As we were starting to come more shallow, with our NDL and gas still good, we decided to start swimming towards the left, and so we did until we found the cliff wall and boulders, there we spent some time looking into the crevices for various creatures, as I was photographing a crab, my buddy started signalling that they were seeing something, as I took a look, I first did not see anything, but after a few seconds of looking, lo and behold! A squid!, so I spent some time there, photographing the critter before I decided that I had harassed it enough and let it be. We ended the dive soon after, as we decided that it was simply time to get up for a nice thermos of hot beverage. Said and done, we got up, took off our dive packages and began discussing the things we had seen during the dive over some hot coffee.

The Angular crab is a species new to the area, the first records of it are from 2008

Dive 2:

Depth: 22 m, Time: 44 min, Temperature: 11°C

After a surface intervall with discussions and warm beverages, we once again got into the water for another dive. This time we went down in the same spot as before, however we started swimming left quite quickly, finding the walls early. We followed the walls during this dive, keeping on average above 20 m. As we were swimming around, I spot a shape close to the bottom, which turned out to be another squid, so we spent some time around the squid as I photographed it. After a while, it became time to turn around as we had been in the water for a while now, meaning that we needed some time to get back to the starting point as well. As we were nearing the end point, I was taking a closer look on some rocks when I spotted a small shape on top of one of them, turned out to be an Bryer's Nut crab (Ebalia tumefacta), a miniscule species of crab that I've never seen before as well, so that one got photographed as well :)

We ended the dive at 44 minutes as we simply had gotten so shallow that i thought it wasn't worth prolonging the dive anymore by then.

All in all, it was a super duper dive day, especially since I got to see two species I've never seen before, as well as squids, always love seeing them squids :)

Bryer's nut crab, a species about the size of a pinky finger nail, thus making it easily overlooked

So until next time! Keep on Swimming!

Love the Common bobtail squids, they are so cute when they dig down into the bottom like this

Jordfall 24/10 2020. Do you want to do a night dive?

Hi and ho!

Black goby looking a bit unhappy with my photographing

This weekend marked the first night dive of the 2020 autumn-winter season, as well as the end of a long surface intervall for one of my dive buddies. We decided on the way to the Gullmar fjord that we were to go to the Jordfall marina, as it is a easy and good spot for night diving in the Gullmar area. This time around, we had some not so experienced divers with us, which is another reason to choose Jordfall, as it is quite safe to dive there, no sudden drop offs like Ormestad :)

We got to the site in the evening and started to set up our gear, we also did a short dive site presentation and then divided us into pairs and got ready to head into the waters.

Luminecent sea pen, a beautiful creature like always

Dive 1: 

Depth 24 m, Time: 50 min, Temp: 12 °C

Me and my buddy swam out to the cliff, as we had planned to follow the wall during this dive. When we got to the corner of the cliff wall, we signalled to the surface personell and went down. It soon became clear that there was a lid of freshwater which blocked the last rays of the sun from going deeper, meaning that it was like a night dive to begin with. We descended close to  the wall and kept following it down and outwards in the regular way one does in Jordfall. As it was much darker in the water at this time, the marine life was much less shy and let itself be photographed somewhat, which is pretty nice when one loves nature photographing like I do.

We spent some time swimming around, looking at the different things that were out and about by this time before it was time to turn around and go back to the starting point. As we were nearing our safety stop, my buddy suddenly started to cork, which I was kind of expecting, as they had told me beforehand that they have problems with their bouyancy in the end. but alas I could not stop the corking, so we both corked up to the surface with about 2 minutes of safety stop left, which is not quite OK, but not too bad either. We got up to land and doffed our packages for changing tanks.

The harbour crab with it's vivid blue hindleg paddles.

Dive 2: 

Depth 31 m, Time: 37 min, Temp: 12 °C

After a surface intervall with some coffee and talking about the first dive, me and my buddy got ready for the second dive of the evening. This time around, the plan was to go deep and over the soft bottom in order to search for squids, as it had been dark for a while now. Said and done, we swam out to the outermost part of the jetty before signalling to the surface personell and starting to descend. 

When we could see the bottom, we started to follow the slope downwards towards the depth, Looking and photographing as we went. During this dive, i showed my buddy what one can do with the Sea Pen Pennatula phosphorea in the dark. As we swam around, i saw something small over the bottom, lo and behold, a squid, so we spent a few minutes looking at, and photographing the little critter before it was time to go upwards again due to the NDL starting to run low.

We continued upwards in a orderly fashion and ended the dive at a bit of a shorter time than usual, but as it is starting to get colder in the water, it is to be expected tbh

All in all it was a nice dive trip, and a very successful first proper night dive for the season.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

The highlight of this dive trip, a Common bobtail squid digging down into the mud.

Jordfall 4/7 2020. Getting into it deep once more.

Hi and ho! 

Burrowing polychaetae of some kind, likely a Chone. sp

This weekend, me and my buddies made plans to dive in the Gullmar fjord, more exactly, the Jordfall marina, one of our regular haunts. The weather forecast was less than ideal, with strong winds and rain on the forecast for the whole area, however, when we arrived at the site, we discovered that the weather, while somewhat grey, was quite nice. So said and done, me and my buddy kitted up and prepared to get into the water to start the first dive.





Dive 1: 
Depth: 30 m, Time: 45 min, Temp: 10 °C

No idea why this Fireworks anemone is all curled up like this.

This dive we had decided to go straight out, to the deep mud slopes that dominate the Gullmar fjord. So we swam out following the pier until we reached the outermost, where we decided to start descending. When we began, we discovered that the visibility was rather bad, no surprise though due to the rains that had fallen in the days previous. Nonetheless, we descended in a orderly fashion, until we had visual contact with the seafloor, after which we started to follow the slopes downwards. At 15 m, we encountered a very clear thermo and halocline, where we also found many jellyfishes hanging around, probably due to the gradient differences in the waters around forcing them to stay on that specific depth. It was at this point that the waters also went from around 20 °C to about 10 °C, but as we wore drysuits, it was nothing to really make a fuss about.
As we followed the bottom, me and my buddy swam around and photographed as we went. At about 28 m depth, we encountered the Fireworks anemone we had set out to find, a dear old friend that one sees very often when one dives straight outwards in Jordfall. After a while, it became time to get to more shallow depths as both the air and the non-deco time were starting to run lower. So we swam back towards our starting point in a relaxed fashion, stopping every now and then to photograph things.

Dive 2: 
Depth: 20 m, Time: 50 min, Temp: 10 °C

Once again, the second most colourful fish in Swedish waters,
the Common dragonet (male)

On the second dive, me and my buddy decided to follow the cliff wall to the left of Jordfall marina, as it is both easier to navigate there, as well as a lot of different kinds of creatures that won't show up on the mud slopes. Said and done, we swam out until we were close to the cliff, where we decided to start descending. The vis was about the same as before, with somewhat bad range. When we penetrated the thermocline we started following the wall outwards, doing the same as before, stopping and photographing every now and then. As we were swimming, I saw a very colourful male Common dragonet laying on the bottom, so I proceeded to slowly sneak up to it and shoot some photos. As I was doing this, my buddy was swimming away at a steady pace, so I had to leave the dragonet be after a few shots and start swimming towards my buddy once more in order to not loose them in the bad vis. So, we continued following the wall outwards, photographing, fish, sea urchins and other things. at around 20 minutes we decided it was time to go back, so we went through the thermocline again and kept it somewhat more shallow on the way back.

All in all, it was a lucrative and nice dive day, the weather was, as stated earlier, much better than expected, and very suited for drysuit diving.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Orange brown Aeolids (Aeolidiella glauca) in a rather large gathering