Släggö 4/11 2023 Divers Night 2023

 Hi and ho!

As is tradition, the first Saturday of November is Divers Night, the international night diving event, and as such, me and my buddies went to Släggö in Lysekil, where the local event for Divers Night occurs for us. 

There was a bit of a delay in our plans due to various circumstances, cutting the first dive a bit short in order to get a proper surface interval.

Lumpsucker male guarding his brood

Dive 1:

Depth: 18 m, Time: 37 min, Temp: 9 C

Our plan for this dive was to follow the line for a bit until we reached the 6 m buoy (used to mark safety stops) after which we were to look around a bit in that area, see there were reports of a Lumpsucker male having set up shop there guarding his eggs, so we descended rather immediately after jumping in and getting our bearings. After reaching the 6 m buoy anchoring point, we started looking around for the Lumpsucker, and lo and behold, after a little bit, we did find him and his brood, just by one of the rocks in the rubble area. He lay so still and nice, so me and photographer buddy hung around a bit and photographed him before leaving him be. We continued to follow the slope outwards for a bit, and after a little while, i spotted something in the corner of my eye, turned out to be a teuthid squid ("squid-shaped" squid so to speak). Unfortunately it was moving around a lot, so i couldn't get the camera to focus on the critter, instead i just followed it while trying to film it (still was no good), photographer buddy did manage to snap some photos of it though :)

After letting the squid swim away, our other buddy signalled for us to come over, turned out that they had also spotted a bobtail squid, which both me and photographer buddy started snapping photos of, and not soon after, another bobtail was found in the vicinity, which was of course also photographed for a bit. Not much really occurred after this, and we soon had to turn back towards the starting point, ending our dive at 37 minutes.

Bobtail squid, the main attraction of autumn and winter diving here

Dive 2: Divers Night main dive

Depth: 21 m, Time: 54 min, Temp 9 C

Unfortunately one of my buddies had to scrub their dive, as they had not closed their zipper properly before jumping in :(

Now it was time for the main event of Divers Night, on land we had decided to just sort of stay in a group, but if we lost contact with each other (mainly me and photographer buddy getting separated from the others, as it often happens) then we would just continue on in pairs. Said and done, we jumped in and started to descend into the waters, following the slope as usual, out over the soft bottom. Surprisingly, we managed to keep the whole group together, despite us being 2 photographers there😛.

No squids on this dive, even though we kept a lookout for them and were over the ideal kind of substratum where the squids are often found, me and photographer buddy did however manage to find some Bryer's Nut Crab, a extremely small species of crab that is hard to spot.

We ended our dive at 54 minutes, got up and doffed the gear, making ready to head home.

All in all, it was a good Divers Night, despite the things that didn't go so well this time around.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Bryer's Nut Crab (Ebalia tumefacta), super small and super hard to spot

Släggö 23/4 2023 It might be warming up?

 Hi and ho!

This weekend, the forecast was predicting rain, so we choose to go to Släggö, as there is roof to shelter from rain and wind on this site.

Devonshire cup-coral, small but colourful

Dive 1:

Depth: 3 m, Time: 48 min, temp: 10 C

We jumped into the water and started descending almost immediately, as we were planning to hunt for nudibranchs in the shallow waters. The waters did feel quite warm for the season, but I guess that was due to the weather of the past week, being sunny and and really warm for mid-April (that has changed for now, raining as I write this 😅). Due to this warmth, there were no nudis to be found in the shallow waters in the bay of Släggö, instead there was a lot of filamentous algae growing, suggesting that indeed the nice weather was "to blame" for it. Alas it is what it is, and shallow near-shore nudis are seasonal after all (we should still be able to find nudis out when taking a boat trip)

We swam around for about 48 minutes before I got bored and signalled that we were to ascend and end the first dive. 

Sea-loch anemone, a common sight

Dive 2:

Depth 23 m, Time 53 min, Temp 6 C

After a surface interval, it was time to once again head into the waters, this time, we had decided to swim out to the cliffs on the opposite side of the bay before descending, and then follow the cliffs outwards and downwards. So that is exactly what we did. As we were trucking along the wall, we came upon a very clear halocline at 18 m depth, it was clear enough that you could see the waters mixing in the light of my dive light. We continued on, through the halocline, where it did clear out quite good as one went through it. On the rocky cliffs, there was much more to see, though mostly things that were expected, as they were sessile species. Examples include Devonshire cup coral, Sea-loch anemones and Peacock feather-duster worms. After about 20 minutes, I made the signal to turn around, as I know that it takes a while to get back too. We ended the dive at 53 minutes, got up and doffed our gear, getting ready to head home.

All in all, this dive day was a bit disappointing, but such is life sometimes. And hey, it didn't rain, despite the forecast😁

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Greater pipefish staring into the camera

5/11 2022 Diversnight

 Hi and ho!

Once again, it has become time for Diversnight, the international yearly event for night diving, and like usual, me and my buddy went to Släggö in Lysekil to join up with the dive centre there at their event. This year was much fewer divers compared to earlier years, but i guess the somewhat dire weather forecast was to blame for that, with strong winds and rain being the prevailing forecast on the day. 

Goldsinny wrasse (Ctenolabrus rupestris)

Depth: 30 m, Time 58 min, Temp: 12 C

We descended early as the wind and waves were battering straight into the bay of Släggö, making a longer surface swim undesirable this day, well under the surface, it was much calmer, though one could still feel the waves in the shallow areas. We swam along in good pace and quickly found the line that leads downwards and out on the soft bottom, so we started following it ever so slightly. Well out on the soft bottom we saw that the squat lobsters were out and about, as they usually are after sundown, and unlike daytime, they are less timid, which is nice for photography :)

As we swam along the line, we soon came to the part of Släggö at 25 m where there seem to be a perpetual haze since about early 2020 (no really, before 2020, there was no such haze down there). Either way, in this haze there wasn't really much to see, some swimming crabs and squat lobsters scurrying about, but nothing of particular interest. As we started to near our no deco time-limit, we started to make our way upwards, and also back towards the starting point, as I wanted at least 1 h long surface interval before doing the second dive, the official diversnight-dive.

We surfaced at 58 minutes, got up and doffed our gear quickly before heading up to the dive centre to partake in the diversnight cake (this is a very important part of the event).

Spiny squat lobster (Galathea strigosa), one of many

Dive 2: Diversnight official dive.

Depth 16 m, Time 55 min, Temp: 12 C

We were a bit behind schedule, but alas, it wasn't more than like 2 minutes delay for us, so it wasn't the whole world really. Either way, we decided to dive towards the right side of Släggö, keeping it shallow as we hadn't really had a 1 h surface interval, while also looking for squids, as now is the season for them. But to no avail, the squids did not show up on this dive, even though we were in the area they frequent during this time of the year. Instead, we saw quite a few Harbour swimming crabs and smaller codfish, in addition to this, we also saw at least one reticulated dragonet, a species that officially only has been seen once in Sweden (to be honest, i suspect that this is a very easily overlooked species and might be more common than one think, it just looks very much alike the other two known species in the area).

Not much interesting of note on this dive, which we ended at 55 minutes.

All in all, it was some nice night dives, though the absence of squids was a bit disappointing.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Reticulated dragonet (Callionymus reticulatus)

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

Släggö 21/5 2022 Springtime for the sea

 Hi and ho!

This week we went to Släggö for easy diving (and roof over the head, it was forecasted to rain). We also was to meet up with some friends that were doing their course things there. When we got to the site and took a look, we saw that spring had indeed come to the area, the harbour was a soup of jellyfish, and quite a lot of Lion's mane jellies too, especially in the area around where you jump in from the pier, so there was that. 

Harbour swimming crab

Dive 1:

Depth: 25 m Time: 54 min Temp: 10 C

We jumped in and swam out for a bit before descending. The visibility this day was a little bit on the bad side, but not the worst for the season, lots of particles in the water though. Continuing on, we followed the wall outwards, taking it a bit slow as one of us had new gear they had to get used to. As we swam along the wall, we kept looking for lobsters and other critters that like to hide in crevices, I did only find one, but heard later from my buddies that there had been 2 of them. At about 30 minutes, we decided to turn around as to have enough gas for a second dive later.

We swam back in a nice pace and surfaced at 54 minutes and got up, preparing for a nice surface interval with pizza.

Greater pipefish 

Dive 2:

Depth: 26 m Time: 55 min Temp: 10 C

After a surface interval, we headed towards the dive site once more, now the rain had stopped, and the weather was surprisingly sunny. One of my buddies decided to not do a second dive as their suit had leaked a bit too much the previous dive (reminds me that i need to do a leak check on mine, it is getting ridiculous). 

Me and my other buddy jumped in and swam out to about the same spot as the previous dive, before starting to descend. We followed the wall this time as well, photographing as we went. Not much of interest was really found on this dive, but i did get to experiment a little bit with angles and light positioning, so i guess there is always a silver lining. We surfaced at 55 minutes, got up and started making ready to head home once more.

All in all, it was a very nice dive day

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Devonshire cup coral

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 27/11 2021 In my winter "wonderland"

 Hi and ho!

This weekend we got a sudden case of winter dumped right on us. On saturday, the day we went out diving, it was snowing quite properly, enough to actually make the roads a bit hazardous with slush and a proper snow cover. Either way, we are a crazy bunch and went diving regardless of these weather conditions. When we arrived at the dive site, we saw that they had cut off a large part of the parking lot there for unknown reason (probably to renovate the pier, as it is getting a bit worn really). The wind and snow was whirling so we took shelter underneath roof before changing into drysuits, whereafter we kitted up our gear and made ready to head out.

Greater pipefish hiding among the eelgrass in the shallow parts

Dive 1:

Depth: 26 m Time: 61 min, Temp: 11 C

We jumped in and almost immediately descended, aiming to look for the lumpsucker once again. And lo and behold, after like 1 minute, one of my buddies signalled the rest of us to come over and look, for they had found the lumpsucker. So after staying there for a little bit and stressing out the poor fish, we continued on diagonally towards the right. But after a little bit, one buddy decided that we were to start going straight outwards instead, as we have usually done on Släggö, they felt that we had gone towards the right forever at that point. Either way, we continued to follow the slope downwards and outwards as one does here. At 20 m we started to encounter a haze, something that's usually encountered at 25 and below. Either it is due to weird wind and current conditions going on right now there, or it is bad technical divers with horrible trim (a thing we have seen there indeed) that has stirred up the silt. The visibility continued to be sort of bad down here, though the water temperature was much nicer compared to the surface, a typical trait for when winter season is starting. We swam around for a bit here before starting to make our way towards the rocky wall and then back towards the starting point. When we found the rocky wall, one of my buddies started signalling that they were seeing something in a crevice, turned out to be a lobster, but as i was about to snap a photo, they signalled once more above me, several times, turned out that there was another lobster right above as well, so after quickly snapping a photo of the antennae of the first one, i snapped a quick photo of the second one above before it hid inside the crevice. We continued following the wall back towards the starting point. As we neared the end, we once again encountered the lumpsucker and harassed it for a little bit before we surfaced at 61 minutes. We got up and doffed our gear, preparing for a nice surface interval at the pizzeria close to the dive site.

This Common bobtail squid was posing nicely for the camera

Dive 2:

Depth 17 m, Time: 58 min, Temp: 10 C

After a surface interval in the warm pizzeria, we once again made ready to head out into the water. This time one of my buddies decided to not do a second dive, as they had gotten a bit cold and didn't feel like it was worth it. But me and my other buddy were crazy enough to do another dive on this snowy day. Once again, we descended almost immediately after jumping in and making sure that everything was in order. As we are descending, I shone my light on my right wrist and see that i hadn't closed the ring system completely, so i quietly did that before it started leaking in (not that it really mattered, still haven't fixed the leak in the ring system. We continued diagonally towards the right, hoping to see squids, descending down to a depth of about 17 m. On this dive there was a lot of harbour swimming crabs out and about as well as a few longspined bullheads, a close relative to the more common shorthorn sculpin one usually sees on this site. We did see two squids on this dive, the first one was a bit fiesty, swimming straight into my camera and light, so i had to back away in order to try and get a action shot, which of course was impossible with the gear i use right now. Either way, after 30 minutes i started signalling that we were to turn around. So we began swimming back slowly but surely. We didn't find the lumpsucker on this dive, not that we looked very much either, so that might have been a contributing factor. We surfaced at 58 minutes, got up and started making ready to head home after a nice but cold dive day.

All in all, the weather could have been better, but such things don't really matter too much underwater, so it was a satisfying dive day.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Longspined bullhead, the other relatively common sculpin on the west coast

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

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

Släggö 19/6 2021 Diving with a chance of showers

 Hi and ho

This weekend we decided to meet up with a couple of friends that live close to and in Lysekil, so Släggö was once again the logical option for a dive site. The weather forecast told of thunder and rain, which made our choices of dive spots a bit smaller, we needed roof to hide from the rain after all. So not much to talk about there really, we did as we always do, get our gear ready, pair up and getting ready to dive.

Devonshire cup coral, a side view

Dive 1

Depth: 26 m, Time: 57 min. Temp: 13 °C

At first, we were going in two pairs of buddies, as one usually does, however, due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to do a quick re-arranging of the pairs, and dive in a pair of 3 instead. Also, one of my gloves broke as i was going into the water, so I had to go up and do a quick change of gloves, changing it to a wet-glove instead for this dive. Either way, we swam out into the bay and close to the cliff before we started descending. the goal of this dive was to look for dragonets of different kinds, so we tried to get towards the deeper soft bottoms, where they usually like to hang out, as quick as possible. In the surface, the visibility was somewhat bad, about 3 m of visibility, but that cleared up as soon as one got down a few meters. At 20 m, we hit the thermocline, and the visibility cleared up even further. Here, we started to encounter Common dragonets, in particular a beautiful male, which one of my buddies started to photograph while hung around for a bit, photographing some other animals, including some female common dragonets. 

Near the end of the dive, my second buddy signalled me to look at something in a crevice, turned out to be a large lobster, which did not match the description of our regular European one in my eyes, so I tried to photograph it as much as possible, but none of the photos turned out useable due to it hiding too deep in the crevice.

We surfaced at 57 minutes, got up, and got ready for a nice surface interval.

As we began doffing our gear, it started raining quite heavily for a few minutes.

Female common dragonet, not as colourful as the male

Dive 2

Depth 30m, Time 65 min, Temp: 13°C

After a surface intervall with food, talking and me changing my dryglove, it once again became time to get into the waters. This time, we went in pairs of two, as our original plan was, and right as we were donning our gear, it started to rain, again. Though, as we were in our drysuits, it didn't matter too much really.

We got into the water and me and my buddy swam to the cliff before starting to descend into the water. The goal was once again to look for dragonets on this dive. As we swam along the wall, my buddy started following something, after a closer look, it turned out to be a lobster out in the open, something you don't usually see during the day, though this specific one was pretty big, and the waters pretty dark at this point, so maybe that was the reason for the lobster to be out and about. Either way, we followed it for a little bit, before we left it be and continued to swim towards the depth. When we reached the deeper soft bottom, we started to encounter swimming crabs, as well as common dragonets once more. Not much else was of note on this part of the dive, we turned around at the half tank point and started swimming back. As we reached the shallow waters, I didn't pay attention to where I was swimming and almost got a jellyfish smack dab in the face, i managed to avoid it by getting really flat towards the bottom. As I did this, I saw a small shape sticking out of the sand, as I got closer, i realized it was a Greater weever, a species i know occurs in the area, but is one i hadn't seen yet. So i spent some time photographing it, before i signalled to my buddy to come and photograph it too. After a little while, we left the fish alone and kept swimming back. We surfaced at 65 minutes, got up and doffed our gear, satisfied with the dives of the day.

All in all, the day was a nice dive day, even if the weather did leave some things to wish for, and the chaotic beginning of it.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Greater weever, the Swedish equivalent to a Stonefish of warmer waters

Släggö 5/6 2021. Summer summer summer.

 Hi and ho!

This weekend was a warm one, with temperatures in the 20s all weekend long and clear skies. As we had decided to upon diving with a newer diver that didn't have much of their own gear, we choose Släggö as the dive site of the weekend. This due to Släggö having a dive shop close by where one can rent suits and gear.

Either way, we got to the site, had a bit of trouble finding a parking lot due to the super nice weather making people come to Lysekil, with their cars, taking up precious parking spots for us divers close to Släggö. Got our gear out and kitted up for the dives of the day.

Common dragonet resting in the sand.

Dive 1:

Depth 29 m, Time 54 min, Temp: 10 °C

On the surface, my pair and another buddy pair decided to dive together for a bit, as my buddy had recently changed the boots on their drysuit, and was about to check if they leaked, and if they did leak, check if the leak was severe enough to abort the dive. As we got in, we immediately realized that the visibility was on the bad side, not the worst, but not good either. After a little bit of diving, they signalled that they were indeed leaking into the boots, but not severe enough to abort the dive, so we signalled to the other pair that we were to split into the two pairs and continue with our dive plans (as far as we plan our dives at least). Me and my buddy continued following the slope downwards. At about 16 m depth, we hit the  thermocline, which was marked with a very clear layer between the water masses. After breaking through this thermocline, the visibility got better with the colder water masses. We soon found the pipes that goes from Släggö and out on the deep soft bottom, which we spent some time around before the NDL time was starting to run low. Not that many animals was out this day, so most photos on this dive was of sessile species. These included Devonshire cup coral, hydroids and dead man's fingers, but some motile species like Common dragonet, swimming crabs and squat lobsters were also found. At 25 minutes we turned around and started swimming back, right then we met the other buddy pair as they were on their way back too.

We surfaced at 54 minutes, got up and got ready for a nice surface intervall in the sun.

Short horn sculpin, vibrant colour variant

Dive 2:

Depth 27m, Time 46 min, Temp: 10 °C

After a surface intervall, we did a slight shift in the buddy pairs, as two of us didn't feel like, or couldn't do a second dive due to various reasons. So me and my previous buddy paired up with one different buddy each and got ready to dive in these new pairs. Me and my new buddy jumped into the water and swam out towards the cliff wall before starting to descend. After descending i found that i in my hurry had forgotten to attach the inflator to the drysuit, so i did a quick attaching while and hopefully that didn't mess up the internals of the hose or inflator too much. We continued following the slope downwards, photographing and hanging out as we did. After reaching the thermocline, we slowed down a bit, taking it easy while following the slope and the wall outwards. On this dive, we saw two Greater spider crabs with a blueish gray carapace colour, something I have seldom seen before. After a while, it became time to turn around, so that we did, following the wall on the way back. Right before we got to our safety stop, my buddy signalled me that they saw something underneath a rock at 9 m. Turned out to be a rather big european lobster, which I tried to get a good photo of, to no avail. 

We surfaced at 46 minutes, got up and out of our gear, and ready to start going home.

All in all, the day was really good, if a bit warm due to the clear skies and summer temperatures. 

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Devonshire cup coral with a nice profile

Släggö 23/5 2021 Jellyfish season has started

 Hi and ho!

Due to the weather forecast once more telling of bad weather this weekend, me and my buddies decided to go to a site with a roof over the changing area. As we also had a newer diver with us this time, we decided to go to Släggö, as this is a site that is easy to dive. When we arrived at Släggö, the rain was pouring down, but soon it started to subside, which was quite nice.

We set up our gear, divided into pairs and got ready for the dives.

Vibrant male of Common dragonet, truly one of the prettiest fishes on the Swedish west coast

Dive 1:

Depth 27m, Time: 57 min, Temp: 9 °C

Me and my buddy jumped in and started swimming out from the pier before we deemed it far enough to do a descent. As we descended in a orderly fashion, we saw directly that there was a lot of jellyfish in the water, signalling that the jellyfish season had come. When we got a bit further, my buddy signalled that they were having problems equalizing, so we stayed at a certain depth for a bit as they equalized their ears. After they managed to get their ears equalized, we continued further down. at 11 m, we encountered a thermo-and halocline, where the waters suddenly got quite a bit colder. We followed the bottom, along the cliff and out over the soft bottom, finding the dive helmet once more. As we were nearing our NDL, my buddy signalled me to look at something, turned out to be a rather large male Common dragonet. I stopped to take some photos of it before signalling that we were to ascend and turn around, as the NDL had gotten pretty low, and that it was time to start swimming back. When we reached about 12 m depth on the way back, I looked around a little bit and saw that there was a veritable minefield of lion's mane jellies above us, which made me a bit concerned. As we were swimming back, we met the other buddy pair that was with us this day on the way out, turned out they had some weighting problems for the new person and thus took a while to get ready. 

We surfaced at 57 minutes and got up to prepare for a nice surface intervall. At this point it had stopped raining too.

Moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) swimming into the light beam of my buddy.

Dive 2:

Depth 27m, Time: 56 min, Temp: 9 °C

After a nice surface interval with pizza and relaxing, it was time for the second dive of the day. Me and my buddy swam out once more and descended close to the cliff. This dive the goal was to look for European lobsters, which meant we were to look among the rubble and in the crevices near the cliffs. We continued in a orderly fashion, descending while following the walls, looking in the crevices and underneath the rocks. The first lobster was really shy, and didn't quite show itself, with only the claws slightly visible from underneath the rock, I tried to just hang about for a bit, to wait it out, but that didn't work, so we continued further. The second lobster was one of heftier size, hiding away inside a crevice close to the deeper parts.

At about 25 minutes we turned around, as I deemed it appropriate to turn around at this time frame, we swam back, gas was starting to get to lower levels too, and I felt like i didn't want too much of a surface swim back (though it was ok really, just making sure that we had some gas to spare on the way back, as a safety thing). We surfaced at 56 minutes, got up and out of our gear, and prepared to go home after a nice dive day.

All in all, it was sure a nice day for diving, even if it began a bit on the wet side.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Lion's mane jellyfish, got my buddy to backlight this one, so we got this motif

Släggö 11/4 2021 Doubles, bubbles, gear and weather troubles.

Hi and ho!

This weekend we went to Släggö in Lysekil, We originally planned to go to Jordfall, but as the weather was very rainy and somewhat chilly, we decided to go to Släggö instead, as there is overhead areas for changing clothes, which fit much better for the weather conditions.

We got to the site and started to kit up, my buddy jumped into the water before me as I was taking a bit of more time to get into my new double setup. As my buddy jumped in, they discovered that their BCD was leaking out gas from the inflator, so they got up and almost canceled their dive before we convinced them to go up to the dive center and ask for assistance. After a little bit they came back, and it turns out that it was salt crystal buildup on the inflator button, which was fixed by soaking it in warm water. So me and my buddy once again got ready and headed out for the dive. 

Sea loch anemone, a common sight to see in the area around Gullmarsfjorden

Dive 1: 

Depth 29 m, Time 40 min, Temp: 6 °C

We swam out to the cliff before we started descending, as we descended, we saw that the visibility of the site was a bit bad, at most 5 m. We followed the slope and wall downwards as i was trying to get used to the gear, photographing as we went, even if it was a bit harder due to new gear and bad visibility.

This day, it seemed that few critters were out and about, so not much was photographed during this dive.

We surfaced at 40 minutes, got up and doffed the gear on land, after which we made ready to go get pizza, as we usually do when at Släggö.

Look at the polyps of the Dead man's fingers Coral

Dive 2:

Depth: 29m, Time 52 min, Temp: 6 °C

After a surface intervall with pizza and nice chatting, it was time to get into the waters again. This time, two of us 4 divers decided to stay on land, as they had gotten too cold during the previous dive. So me and another buddy decided to go do a second dive. We kitted up and jumped into the water in a orderly fashion, after which we swam to the buoy closest to the entry point, just to change things up a bit where we descended. At the buoy, we realized that there was some kind of exercise going on there, so we descended a  slight distance away from it. As we descended, I somehow managed to get my inflator hose to the wing detached, I have no idea how i did that. Either way, I did "a bad" and kneeled down on the bottom while my buddy was attaching it once more. After that was said and done, we continued our dive outwards over the soft bottom, which is usually relatively lively, but this day, it was a bit more dull. After a while, I was starting to run low on dive time before deco, so we started to go a bit more shallow so I didn't have to go into deco on this dive. We surfaced at about 52 minutes, I spent some time to do a check if I had proper amounts of weights, which I found out was true.

All in all, it was a pretty neat dive day, even if the freezing rain and winds left much to be desired.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Close up of a Edible crab, pretty happy with how it turned out

Släggö 13/3 2021 Sunshine and clear waters

Hi and ho!

This week, we once again went to Släggö in Lysekil for diving. The weather forecast was telling of rain and snow, which was indeed the case on the way there, but as soon as we arrived, it started clearing up, with some quick hail showers at first. We took out our gear from the cars, kitted up, divided into pairs and got ready to get into the water. 

Frilled anemone in a Wide-angle photo attempt

Dive 1:

Depth: 16m, Time: 35 min, Temp: 5 °C.

Me and my buddy climbed into the water using the ladder, after getting into the water, we swam out close to the cliffs before i decided that it was a good place to descend. As this was the first drysuit dive for my buddy in a long while they struggled the whole dive, but alas, such things happen. We swam out, following the bottom and cliffs for a while. But after a little time, I decided that it was too dangerous for us to continue, as my buddy was struggling so much with the buoyancy. So we turned around and swam back, while i tried to keep an eye on my buddy in case they started to float upwards. We got to the safety stop without too much issues where we stayed for a while before I signaled that we were to ascend. We ascended in a safe manner and swam back to the pier where we got up out of the water. 

Hermit crab posing nicely for the camera

Dive 2:

Depth: 27m, Time: 42 min, Temp: 5°C

After a nice surface intervall, we decided to head down once more for a second dive. This time, my previous buddy decided to call it, as they had gotten wet and cold the previous dive. Which is fair, the suit they borrowed was a bit leaky. So me and the other buddy pair decided to group up in a buddy team of 3. Said and done, we kitted up, jumped into the water and started swimming for a bit before we decided it was a good time to descend. We followed the cliff walls and bottom down and outwards in the usual fashion. This time we went a bit deeper, to about 27m, looking for creatures among the crevices of the rocks and cliffs. At about 24 minutes, it was time to turn around, which we promptly did. We ended the dive at 42 minutes.

All in all, it was a super nice dive day, even if it did start a bit rainy and miserable, and the shining sun during all of the dives was really beautiful :)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Cuckoo wrasse female, this one was just sitting there by the rocks.