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

Jordfall 14/5 2023. Starting to warm up.

 Hi and ho!

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

Devonshire cup coral

Dive 1:

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

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

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

Fireworks anemone up close and personal

Dive 2:

Depth: 30 m, Time: 40 min, Temp: 7 C

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Orange brown aeolid out on the soft mud bottom.

Jordfall 30/4 2023

 Hi and ho!

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

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

Dive 1:

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

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

Devonshire cup coral

Dive 2:

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

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

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

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

Hällebäck 4/12 2022

 Hi and ho!

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

Fountain anemone (Sagartiogeton laceratus)

Dive 1:

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

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

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

Close up of a bobtail squid

Dive 2: 

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

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

A very blue Baltic prawn (Palaemon adspersus)

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

Smögen archipelagon 17/7 2022 Boat diving and lost fins.

 Hi and ho!

This weekend me and my friends decided to go boat diving on a whim more or less, after calling around a bit, we got some spots on the boat at the Smögen dive center, which lies a bit north of our regular dive spots. After getting up at ungodly times (for a weekend), we managed to get to the dive center with time to spare, so we could kit up in a relatively relaxed pace. After kitting up and getting on the boat, it was time to set out for the first dive.

Dahlia anemone, a closeup

Dive 1: Buskär

Depth: 26 m, Time: 62 min, Temp: 17 C

We rolled off the boat into the water as one does, and after gathering up on the surface, we started to descend. The visibility on this site was pretty ok, if a bit grainy at times. As we neared the bottom, we started to slow down a bit and began swimming along the wall like we had been instructed to do. On this site, there was a lot of plateaus at different depths, differing types of bottom (though not proper soft bottoms, at most it was shell gravel). On the walls, there was a lot of soft corals and different species of algae. I noticed quickly however, that there was some issues with the camera trigger switch, making it a bit hard to take the photos, but i managed to get some at least. After about 30 minutes, we began turning back towards the starting point. At the safety stop, we all deployed our surface marker buoys in order to show the dive boat our position, but as we descended, all three of us almost got jellyfish on us, though I was the first one. We got up at 62 minutes and was picked up by the boat.

Striped flabellina, a species of seaslug I've never seen before.

Dive 2:

Depth: 22 m, Time: 61 min, Temp: 17 C

After a nice surface interval with lunch and snacks. We once again got onto the boat and headed out for our next dive. 

As we rolled in, one of my fins somehow came loose and dropped off my foot and into the depths. Well, after a quick reconvening on the surface, we immediately began descending in order to try and find the fin. Apparently, i need to be better at signalling what is wrong (i guess so?) because it took a while for one of my buddies to realize exactly what was wrong. I think they got the message when i stomped at the bottom with my finless foot in front of them. After about 8 minutes of searching, we managed to find my fin, and at this point, i was a little bit tired from swimming against the current with only one fin, but nonetheless, i decided to continue the dive as i could relax once i got my fin on. As we continued the dive, there was a lot to see, I observed several nudibranchs of note, as well as some spotted sea hares hiding among the algae. 

As we started to head back, we once again became aware that there was a current, and quite a strong one at that, strong enough so that one would struggle to swim against it, either way, both me and my buddy deployed our surface marker buoys to show the boat out positions while we were at our safety stop (we also had to grab onto the seafloor in order to not drift away)

We surfaced at 61 minutes, got picked up by the boat and started to head back to port.

All in all, it was a super nice day of diving.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

A group of Orange-clubbed seaslugs feasting on the bryozoans on a kelp leaf.

Hällebäck 19/6 2021 Summer and sun

 Hi and ho!

This weekend was one of very nice weather, not too warm, yet sunny enough, which is perfect for drysuit diving. We went to the site of Hällebäck, a site close to our other sites, which we used to frequent, but don't do much anymore due to unknown reasons. 

Goldsinny wrasse hiding among the 

Dive 1:

Depth: 26m. Time: 57 min, Temp: 15 C

Me and my buddy jumped into the water rather quickly as we had gotten a bit warm on the surface while kitting up. Well into the water, we started to do a surface swim to get to a good spot for descending and quickly finding the cliffs of this site, which tend to be rather interesting and brimming with critters. As both of us were carrying cameras, we took it slowly along the wall, so slow in fact, that the other dive group passed us by. Not much of note on this dive however, there was some dragonets out and about, as well as a lot of Harbour swimming crabs. At about 25 minutes, it became time for us to turn around again and make our way back to the starting point.

We ended the dive at 57 minutes, got up and doffed our gear for the surface interval.

Football jersey worm crawling along the seafloor 

Dive 2:

Depth: 29m. Time: 43 min, Temp: 15 C

After a nice relaxing surface interval, we once again headed out for a dive. This time, me and my buddy swam out a little bit further, which resulted in a very straight down descent down to about 20 m. After finding the bottom, we continued following the slope and cliffs towards the left side. As we swam along the wall, I spied a thin line-looking thing, which with a closer look, turned out to be a Football jersey worm, though a smaller individual. After staying for a bit and photographing it, I continued following the wall together with my buddy. 

As we did stay down at depth a bit longer, we soon started to run really low on No Deco Limit time, so we had to make a rather hasty retreat upwards again, until we hit about 10 m, where we could once more relax a bit. We ended the dive at 43 minutes, got up and started making ready to head home again.

All in all, it was a very good dive day, could have been better visibility, but it was decent enough :)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Orange-brown aeolid on blade of eelgrass.

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

Jordfall 15/5 2022 Should be back in business now

 Hi and ho!

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

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

Sealoch anemone on a tunicate.

Dive 1: 

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

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

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

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

Dive 2:

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

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Norway king crab out walking.

Hällebäck 5/3 2022

 Hi and ho!

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

Face photo of a Redback seaslug

Dive 1:

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

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

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

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

Frond Eolis (Dendronotus frondosus)

Dive 2:

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

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

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

All in all, it was a nice day of diving

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

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

Hällebäck 19/2 2022 Crabs crabs and more crabs

Hi and ho!

This weekend, we first decided upon one site, but in the car, on the way to the site, we decided to go to a site nearby instead, in order to get a bit of a change, as we have dived the first site quite a lot recently. Another reason for choosing this site, was that i know that there is great chance for seeing Norway king crabs this time of the year. 

Harbour swimming crab with a rather peculiar carapace colour pattern

Dive 1:

Depth: 25 m, Time: 41 min, Temp: 6 C

We jumped into the waters from the pier and swam out from there for a bit before deciding to descend. As we descended, we quickly realized that the surface visibility was completely garbage, brown and muddy, as it had been raining and snowing for quite a bit the night before. So we could barely see each other, even if we were rather close  But as soon as we got to about 5-6 m depth, it cleared up, though it was pitch black in the water due to no sunlight reaching down (this was mid-day) and a lot of particles in the water. We followed the slope downwards and to the left of Hällebäck soon finding the wall. As we were following the slope, one of my buddies signalled for me to come and look at something, which turned out to be a swimming crab with a marbling I had not seen so far. So i spent some time to snap some photos to document it, and after getting home and consulting different sources, I identified it as a Harbour swimming crab with a rather uncommon carapace marbling. As we reached the wall, we followed it towards the left, looking for Norway king crabs and other critters of Gullmarsfjorden. And king crabs we did indeed find, three of them to be exact. After a little while, my buddies signalled to me that it was time to turn around and swim back towards the starting point. At about 15 m (I think), one of my buddies come up to me with a wing dump valve in their hand, after checking that it wasn't mine, I deduced that it was theirs, and that we had a bit of a smaller situation on hand, but we did continue in a relatively relaxed manner until we reached our safety stop. At the safety stop, the buddy that wasn't having a wing dump valve issue, signalled that they saw something, this something turned out to be a Norway king crab, and the shallowest observation of the species I've ever made. Unfortunately, Ii also managed to whip up an enormous silt cloud as I was turning around and trying to photograph it, so that was a thing too.

We surfaced at 41 min, got up and enjoyed warm chocolate in the somewhat nice weather.

One of the Norway king crabs

Dive 2:

Depth: 25 m, Time: 41 min, Temp: 6 C

After a surface interval, we got ready to head out once more. After some searching for a lost fin in the shallows (and grumbling from me due to the extremely bad visibility) we started swimming out to about the same spot we went to on the previous dive before we descended. Not much to say about this dive really, as no big thing really happened, all went according to plan really. On this dive, I observed Redback sea slugs grazing on oaten pipe hydroids, as well as some more king crabs.

We surfaced at 42 minutes and got up to get ready to head home, but as we were getting out of our gear, it started snowing once more, and it was rather wet snow too

All in all, i am very satisfied with the dives this weekend. 

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Redback seaslug, a common species around this time of the year

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

Jordfall 30/10 2021, Night diving and leaky suits

 Hi and ho!

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

Close up of a Henricia. sp Starfish

Dive 1:

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

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

Angular crab posing with its big claws.

Dive 2:

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

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Common dragonet male, a very pretty and colourful fish