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

Släggö 24/9 2022 Easy diving to ease the mind

 Hi and ho!

This weekend we once again went to Släggö once again, just to have something easy to dive. The forecast told of rainy weather, but as always, there was little to no rain in Släggö (though it had most likely recently rained by the look of it).

Eelgrass anemones on a piece of eelgrass

Dive 1:

Depth: 25 m, Time: 69 min, Temp: 15 C

We swam out a bit to get closer to the cliffs before we started descending, as we did so, the seemingly good visibility on the surface did soon disappear, though it was still better than it has been recently, somewhat. I was also using my new suit, that i haven't quite gotten used to yet, which also made this dive a bit more of me concentrating on getting the balance right with my stuff. Either way, there was some stuff to see, a lot of European lobsters for example, there was a lot active on the site on this day, but as they were mainly hiding in crevices and underneath rocks, there weren't many that was good for photos.

We surfaced at 69 minutes, got up and doffed our gear, making ready for a longer surface intervall, as we had planned for night diving this day as well.

North sea Cerianthid, but this one has quite short arms

Dive 2: 

Depth: 14 m, Time: 66 min, Temp: 15 C

After a surface interval, we started making ready to head out once the sun had set, wanting to do a night dive and look for squid as the season is upon us. Well, we jumped in right before it got proper dark and descended soon after. On this dive, no squids were found, meaning that they haven't quite made their way into the bay proper, instead there was a lot of gobies about, as well as pipefish of different kinds. After about 30 minutes, i made the signal to turn around and swim back towards the starting point. 

As we neared the point were we went up, my buddy signalled me to come and look at something, turns out that something was a small eel, not something you see every day indeed. Either way, after photographing it for a bit, we continued forward and soon after started to ascend to the surface, thus ending the dive at 66 minutes.

All in all, it was a nice dive day for sure, even if it is starting to become "hot chocolate" weather :)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

An eel!

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

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

 Hi and ho!

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

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

Dive 1: 12/2 2022 Släggö

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

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

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

Extreme close up of an Edible crab

Dive 2: 13/2 2022 Jordfall

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

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

A dragonet of undeterminable species

Dive 3:

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

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

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 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 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.

Släggö 7/3 2021. Better this time around.

Hi and ho!

This week me and my buddies went to Släggö in Lysekil once more, as we had heard that it was warmer in the water now, also due to the fact that our other dive spots still have ice left on them, making diving there less than ideal at the moment. 

Well, we got to the place, and the sun was shining, even if it was a bit windy and chilly right then, it looked to be a good day for diving. We divided ourselves into pairs, kitted up and got ready for the first dive of the day.

Devonshire cup coral

Dive 1:

Depth 31m. Time: 49 min. Temp: 4-8°C

We swam out and descended early, during the first parts of the dive, one of our buddies discovered that their dive computer was out of batteries, so we ascended to the surface and assessed the situation. Good thing was, I always wear a extra dive computer, my old one, on the other arm, so I lent it to the buddy who had problems with theirs, after some grunting, grouching and heavy breathing on my part, I managed to get the dive computer on my buddy's arm, after which we continued the dive. We descended once more and began swimming outwards. At the boat "wreck" I got the stupid idea to start taking selfies using my camera (just for fun, to see if i could do it), which caused me to become a bit separated from my buddies, when I turned around I couldn't see them, so I swam around in a circle, before I saw them in the distance, not far away from me. After swimming back to them by the "wreck" we continued downwards, following the slope and the tubing from the aquarium in the area. At 31m, my computers started signaling that it was deep enough, so we stayed around this depth for a bit before I signaled that it was time to start going more shallow, and maybe turn around as well, so that we did. On the way back and up, we started to feel the colder waters, you see, it was around 8 C from 15m and down, so, going back up when it is like that, is not very nice. At the safety stop, we were all shivering a little bit, so as soon as it ended, we ascended up to the surface, which conveniently was very close to the ladder up to the pier. We got up and out of our gear as we waited for the rest of the people to come up, so we could go and get pizza.

Black clam (Arctica islandica) mussel that can grow very very old

Dive 2

Depth: 27m. Time 38 min. Temp: 4-8°C

After a surface intervall with pizza and nice hanging out, we once again decided to head out into the water. Me and my buddy got ready, kitted up and jumped into the water, we descended without problems and continued to follow the slope downwards. We took it a bit slower this time, allowing me to look for more stuff. At the boat, we started to turn towards the cliffs. When we started to come close to the cliffs, i spotted a small shape on the bottom, turned out to be a Spotted dragonet male, one of the prettiest ones I've seen in a long while, so i stayed a few minutes to photograph it, it even flashed it's fin to me, but unfortunately i didn't get that on photo. After a while, it became time to turn around and swim back, as we swam back we discovered that the current had started going outwards, making the swim back a bit more tedious and tiring. However, we managed to get through the currents and surfaced at 38 minutes of dive time, got up and started preparing to head back home while we waited for the others to come up. 

Harbour swimming crab

All in all, it was a very nice dive day, and the weather was superb for the time of the year, with shining sun and clear skies.

So until next time. Keep on swimming!

Spotted dragonet (Callionymus maculatus)

20/2 2021 Frigid waters and frozen regulators.

Harbour swimming crab

Hi and ho!

It has been a while hasn't it? Well due to various circumstances, I had a longer than planned dry spell over Christmas and into the new year. But now i should be back in the swing.

Either way. This week me and my buddies went to Släggö for shore diving, as most of our regular spots in the Gullmar fjord are iced over as of this moment. Either way, we arrived at Släggö and started packing up our gear in preparation for the days dive's.

Peacock feather duster worm (Sabella pavonina)

Dive 1: 

Depth: 29m, Time: 42 min, Temp: 0°C

Me and my buddy were planning to do shallow dives in order to look for nudibranches, however, as soon as we got into the water, my buddy's regulator started freeflowing due to the frigid temperatures, so we had to abort the dive. Thus after a quick buddy change, as my first buddy decided to call it then, me and my second buddy went towards the depth instead. The visibility in the water column was very bad, had problems seeing my buddy if it weren't for the illumination from the dive light. As we continued down, the creatures began to show up, mainly in the form of crabs. At about 27m the waters became a bit clearer, but at this point, it started to become time to turn around, as we both were feeling quite cold. We turned around and started swimming back, taking it slow to try and look for more critters. As we neared the end of the dive, I spotted the pink egg mass of a sculpin, which i photographed for a little bit before we continued upwards. As usual, the last 3 minutes of the safety stop during this time of the year was the longest 3 minutes ever. We broke surface at 42 minutes, with no feeling what so ever in our faces.

Roe of Shorthorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius)

Dive 2:

Depth: 15m, Time: 21 min, Temp: -1°C

Now here is where it got interesting. After a surface intervall and some pizza, me and my buddies decided to do a second dive. So we got into our gear, kitted up and jumped into the water. At first it went well, if a bit cold, which was to be expected. But soon, my reg started to bubble, which didn't stop when i did not breath, indicating that it had frozen, and was starting to freeflow. At this point, i contacted my closest buddy that I was having problems, and that we were to abort the dive. So, they gave me their long hose regulator and went to their own extra. We then started the ascent, following the bottom up, after trying to fix it, to no avail, they suggested at the surface that i somehow gotten water in the first stage of the regulator. Oh well, i guess i have to roll with that and send the reg in for service (it is that time of the year after all).

All in all, it was a ok dive day, in spite of the bad conditions and less fortunate happenings with the gear.

So until next time! Keep on Swimming!

Atlantic Lyre crab (Hyas araneus)

Släggö 18/10 2020 Doubles and troubles

Hi and ho!

This week me and my buddies decided to go to Släggö once more, as we had some less experienced divers with us, as well as some of us testing out some gear, namely double tank setups, meaning two tanks at once, which is said to be more stable in the water. We arrived at Släggö, after some but's and if's on the road, set up the gear, divided ourselves into pairs and got ready to head into the water.

Devonshire cup coral

Dive 1:

Depth: 25 m, Time: 46 min, Temp: 14 °C

We got into the water and almost immediately started descending, After descending, we began following the bottom outwards and downwards, i have to my shame admit that i was looking for the small sunken boat that is to be found out on the slope, yet i couldn't find it this dive. Nonetheless, we continued downwards until we hit a decent depth, a bit deeper than planned for this dive, but nothing to worry about really. As i was trying doubles this dive, I was having some troubles with the gear, because i was not used to it, this combined with my dive light acting up a bit made it so I couldn't photograph that much. After some time, me and my buddy turned around and started ascending. We ascended in a orderly fashion and swam into shore, getting ready for a nice surface intervall with food.

Common Edible crab, close up and personal

Dive 2

Depth: 25 m, Time: 48 min, Temp: 14 °C

After a surface intervall with food, we once again kitted up and got ready to get into the water. This dive, me and my buddy kept closer to the rocky walls of the island of Släggö, looking in the nooks and crannies for lobsters and other marine life that likes such places. No lobsters this dive though, instead, there was a lot of crabs as well as several species of fish, including a Common Ling hiding in a crevice. 

After a while, it became time to turn around and starting to make for the surface. While swimming back to the starting point, we came upon the sunken boat, where we spent some time looking around, but alas, still no lobsters.

We surfaced a bit further away from the starting point than expected, but not too bad honestly, just a small surface swim.

All in all, it was a super nice dive day, even if I was using gear I wasn't used to.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Släggö 12/9 2020 Rain clouds, sunshine and silt clouds.

Hi and ho! 

This weekend, me and my buddies went to Släggö in Lysekil, as we reasoned that "it was going to be rainy and windy, so might as well go to a site where we can change into our dive gear under dry roof" so said and done, As we arrived in Släggö, we came right as there was a pause in the rain, so we got into the gear quickly, divided into pairs and got ready to get into the waters. As we had two relatively new divers with us, we divided the pairs so that we were one experienced and one newer diver in each pair.  

Common dragonet trying to camouflage itself on the sand, could have fooled me for sure :)

Dive 1: Depth: 25m, Time: 52 min, Temp: 16 °C

Me and my buddy jumped into the water and started swimming outwards as soon as we had gotten our camera gears under control. As the winds were blowing straight into the Släggö bay, it soon became evident that it was futile to swim very far in the surface, so instead, we made the signs for the surface organisation and started descending into the waters. As we descended, the wave motions calmed down almost immediately, so we kept going down and outwards, following the cliffs and the bottom curve. As we swam down, we spent the time photographing and filming on the way. The visibility was not that great this time, as I believe both the winds and presence of other divers on this site, was contributing to a somewhat great amount of silt in the water. On this dive, there was a lot of crabs, Gadiform fish (cod's coalfish and pollacks) and some lobsters. As we were diving, suddenly it became much lighter in the waters around us, which suggested that there was no more rain up on the surface, and that the sun had peeked through the clouds. After a while, we hit turning pressure and started swimming back, following the wall back. As we surfaced, we saw that the weather had turned into clear skies and that the sun was really shining, even though the winds were still going strong. We got up in a orderly fashion, took off our gear and went to get a late lunch at the pizzeria across the street from the dive center, as we always do when we dive in Lysekil.

Sandy swimming crab, digging down into the mud and silt on the bottom

Dive 2: Depth: 30 m, Time:51 min , Temp: 16 °C

After a late lunch/early dinner, it was time to get back into the water, by then the winds had picked up even more, which was a non-issue really as we got into the water. The dive pairs this time was the same as the last dive. We jumped in, swam out to the cliff and descended into the water to avoid the surface waves. This time we followed the bottom downwards, aiming to reach the 30 m depth, on the way, we encountered the "wreck" on the mud slope, in reality, it is a small boat that I believe the dive center went and sank there so to have some thing to dive on.

After looking a bit around the boat, we continued downwards, following the bottom. At 30 m, we encountered a weird platform, which was covered in Sabellid tube worms (Most likely Sabella pavonina). At this point, we stopped and I was spending some time photographing the swimming crabs that were hiding in the mud. After a little while, it became time to start ascending as we were nearing no deco limits, so we did  just that, as we came to about 25 m, we encountered a huge cloud of silt, most likely from other divers. This cloud was so thick and large, that we both lost sight of each other for a little bit. Either way, we managed to get through and dove a bit on the wall for a few minutes before we once again were nearing deco limits. When there was 3 minutes left, I signaled to my buddy that we needed to "go up" but apparently he misunderstood it, and continued, into another huge cloud of silt, where he became disoriented and i had to go and get him, I signaled once again, this time with very exaggerated  movements that we were to "go up", this time he understood, and we ascended a few meters until the the no deco time was going up again. We followed the wall, photographing and filming as we went, on the wall, there was a lot of Dead man's fingers corals, as well as crabs sitting in the crevices. Right before we ended the dive, I spotted some rather sizable Ballan wrasse harassing a crab for some reason, so I spent some time in the shallow to look at that before we surfaced.

All in all it was nice dive day, even if the wind was somewhat rough, and the visibility was less than ideal, but not unexpected for the conditions that day.

So until next time! Keep on Swimming!

Dead man's fingers, in some patches they are really abundant

Släggö 23/8 2020 Winds and waves galore

Hi and ho! 

This weekend I am back to my normal shenanigans in my normal haunts. So me and my buddies decided to go to Lysekil and dive Släggö, even if the weather forecast was telling of somewhat windy conditions straight into the dive site, as one of the buddies lives there for the summer. Said and done, we got to Lysekil and Släggö without much hassle, kitted up in the winds, divided us into pairs, and prepared to get into the waters.

Peacock feather-duster worm, a kind of marine tube dwelling worm

Dive 1: Depth: 26 m, Time: 66 min, Temp: 16 °C

On the first dive, me and my buddy decided to go close to the cliffs as there is a lot of rocky terrain straight below them, which is usually teeming with life, we swam out to a spot we found appropriate and began descending. As we descended, it soon became clear that there was not very good visibility in the water on this particular day, as I suppose the winds and wave actions had mixed the waters, making them quite turbid, but not the worst I've been diving in. We followed the cliff wall down and outwards, photographing as we went. At about 23 m my buddy was off photographing something among the stones, while i was looking out towards the shell-sand bottom when I spotted a small common dragonet, so I went down a and started creeping over the bottom, trying to photograph it. After a while, we were starting to get low on "no-deco time" so we decided to turn around and go a bit more shallow. As we got closer to land and more shallow, we began to feel a slight current, probably a result from the winds, as well as the swell when we reached about 8 m depth. We continued a bit on the shallow part until we simply decided that we were to ascend and end the dive, and so we did. 

Common dragonet, less colourful individual

Dive 2: Depth: 27 m, Time 70 min, temp: 16 °C

After a nice surface intervall with a late lunch, we got read for the second dive. This time we dove 3 people, as one of the people in the other pair only wanted to do one dive that day. So, we jumped into the water (I climbed) and did a surface swim for a bit in the increasingly rough waves. Either way, we got to a spot we deemed suitable and started descending. We descended following the wall and bottom, until we reached a suitable depth. As we swam outwards, it was clear that there was still a current from the wind and waves coming straight into Släggö, which made the swim outwards a bit more taxing, but nothing significant. At between 24m and deepest depth, it was very hazy in the water, a phenomenon that I have observed before this year in Släggö at about this depth, but can't quite put my finger on what is causing it, maybe different currents?

Either way, when we were starting to run lower on the "No-deco" time, we decided to turn around and swim back towards the more shallow parts. As we got there, the swell could be clearly felt, especially in the harbour area where it was in fact sheltered from the winds. 

When I later checked the weather app on my phone, it turns out that the stiff breeze of the early afternoon had in fact turned into a gale while we were under the surface. Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

All in all, it was a very nice dive day, even if the weather was not completely ideal.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Some of the Dead man's fingers coral

Släggö 12/7 2020 Clear waters and oopsies

Hi and ho! 

Very good visibility this day :)

This weekend me and my buddies decided to go for a dive site that we haven't been to in a while due to the current events in the world, among other things, namely Släggö in Lysekil, one of the best land diving spots on the west coast. We also had made up plans to meet up with a buddy that is living there for summer. The weather forecast for that area were telling of rather strong westerly winds for that day, so we were prepared for a bit of a rough time, however, when we got there we saw that the weather was in fact superb, with shining sun and not as much wind as expected. So we waited for a while until our last buddy showed up to the dive site, after which we kitted up, divided into dive pairs and prepared to get into the waters.

Dead man's finger coral, with rather large polyps

Dive 1
Depth: 23 m , Time: 69 min, Temp: 16 °C
We jumped in from the pier and swam out towards the cliff in order to find a proper spot to start descending. When we deemed the depth and sloping sufficient, we descended in a orderly fashion, the waters were very clear and with good vis, at a maximum of about 10 m, with the sun shining from above, it was beautiful. That said and done, we swam outwards and downwards, following the cliff until we reached max depth, where we slowly swam about for a little bit, photographing and looking as we went. After a while, it was time to turn back as we were on a bit of a schedule, so we swam back in a orderly fashion, when we neared the end of the dive, we ascended to the surface and to get our whereabouts, we then decided that instead of doing a surface swim back, we would dive all the way back. So we did that.
When we got back up, we were lucky and managed to get to our land clothes, right before the other dive pair, who had the car key to the car where we stored our stuff, went out for boat diving.
So we spent our surface intervall eating pizza and relaxing in the sun.

Craaaab!

It is usually a bad idea to get close to a Lion's mane jellyfish

Dive 2
Depth: 11 m, Time 77 min, Temp: 16 °C
After a good surface intervall, we decided to get into the water again, so we kitted up and prepared to get in, this is where the "oops" came, as i was going in, i had forgotten to close the underwater housing for my camera, so it instantly flooded, but luckily, my camera is waterproof, so no damages done to it. But, because it flooded, the lens fogged up and i could not take any photos during this dive. Anyways, we still proceeded with the dive. This dive, we had decided to follow the rocks to the right of Släggö, as that is not a place we usually dive, and the waters were so nice and vibrant on the shallow part. Thus this dive was rather long. Saw many a thing on this dive, but as the camera was fogged up, i had no way of photographing it, well, such is life.
After a while, we simply decided to turn around as we had been in the water for a while at that point. So we swam back in a leisurely fashion.

All in all this was a super nice dive day, with extremely good visibility, almost 10 m at max.

So until next time. Keep on swimming!

It is rare for me to manage to photograph a wrasse, but hey sometimes you get lucky, like with this Gold-sinny wrasse

Släggö 10/11 2019 Kompassmanet och Mullefisk

Hej och hå!

Kompassmanet (Chryasora hysoscella)

Rötsimpa (Myoxocephalus scorpius)

Även denna vecka åkte jag till Lysekil och Släggö för att dyka med CDK. Tyvärr så slumpade det sig att det var dags för min latextätning att gå. Jag fick därför snabbt springa upp till Diveteam i Lysekil för att hyra en dräkt lite snabbt. När jag fått tag på dräkt hoppade vi i från piren och simmade ut till dit vi ville. Vi gick ner på djupet och upptäckte att fastän det var mitt på dagen var det ganska mörkt. Rätt som det var, medan jag fotade en Rötsimpa signalerade mina dykkamrater till mig med lampan, jag vände upp blicken, och till min förfäran och förundran var vi öga mot klocka med en Kompassmanet, en art som inte är hemmahörande i Sverige men som dyker upp sporadiskt från sydligare trakter med strömmar och vind. Denna art är förövrigt värre än en brännmanet med nässelcellerna. Vi vände efter ett tag och simmade tillbaka medan jag fotade allt eftersom.




Det andra dyket gjorde vi när det blivit mörkt och vi var ute efter bläckfisk. Jag och min dykkamrat hoppade snabbt i och gick ner i mörkret. Vi simmade runt en stund tills vi kom till en sjunken fritidsbåt. Precis efter den så såg jag en liten distinkt fisk nere på botten, en Mulle, vilka ändrar färg på natten. Efter att ha stannat en stund och fotat den simmade vi vidare ner mot djupet.

Allt som allt var detta en lyckad dykdag. så tills nästa gång

Simma lungt

Mulle (Mullus surmuletus)

Berggylta (Labrus bergylta)