Jordfalls Hamn 11/11 2023 Winter is comming

 Hi and ho!

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

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

Dive 1: 

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

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

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

Angular crab doing angular crab things

Dive 2:

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Boston facelina crawling on a piece of tire

Släggö 19/3 2023 Cold cold waters and nudis galore!

Hi and ho!

Been a while since i managed to get time to blog, mostly due to having a course that took more time than expected. Well, either way, i should be back now (knock on wood).

This week we went to Släggö, our "bad weather" site, as the weather was forecasted to be rainy and windy, making having a roof over where you change into dive gear a godsend.

As we got there, we talked to another diver that had just finished diving and got the tip that there was next to nothing to be seen on the deeper soft bottoms and that there was a lot of nudibranchs in the shallow area, so we decided to do some really shallow dives and look for them.

Rough doris (Onchidoris muricata) on a piece of algae.

Dive 1:

Depth: 3 m, Time: 37 min, Temp: 3 C

We jumped in and got our bearing on the surface before we started to descend almost immediately. As soon as we got under the surface, I realized that the visibility this day was quite bad, as it had been raining and blown into the harbour during the night. We skimmed and scoured the bottom for nudibranchs, as they usually are very tiny and hard to find unless you look very carefully. We swam around in the bay of Släggö for a while until one of us was starting to feel cold, and that is when we thumbed the dive and went up. We got up and doffed the tanks, making ready for a surface interval with hot drinks.

Nudibranch of genus Amphorina on a piece of sea lettuce.

Dive 2:

Depth: 3 m, Time 20 min, Temp: 3 C

After a bit of a surface interval with hot blueberry soup (the best when you are diving this time of the year), we decided to head into the water again. Same dive plan as before, but we were aware that it might be kept shorter due to the chill in the waters. We descended almost immediately and started looking for nudibranchs once more. After about 20 min, one of us signalled that they were feeling cold, and we thus went up to the surface, ending the dive day.

Despite the forecast telling of rain, the rain never came while we were diving, instead starting ever so slightly when were on our way home again.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Fourstripe nudibranch (Polycera quadrilineata), a very variable species of seaslug

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.

Sandviken 25/6 2022 A midsummer day's dive

Hi and ho!

This midsummer weekend was a warm one, suddenly from nowhere the temperatures shot up from around 15-20 C to almost 30 C, yet we kept on diving as usual, though we could probably have chosen a site where we could have hid in the shadow when it is this warm instead. 

Due to various circumstances, i only managed to do one dive (and that was probably for the best, suit is leaking quite badly right now)

Velvet dorid (Jorunna tomentosa) 

Dive 1:

Depth: 26 m, Time: 51 min, Temp: 14 C

Me and my buddy swam out and quickly began descending, as i didn't quite want to do a longer surface swim this time (which is quite rare for me) Either way, we descended in a orderly fashion and began following the bottom downwards. almost as soon as we got down, my buddy signalled for me to look at a something, which turned out to be a Velvet dorid, and a larger one at that. After spending some time around the nudibranch, we continued onwards until it became time to start making our way back. As we started to swim back, getting more and more shallow, we looked up and realized that there was quite literally a "lid" of Lion's mane jellyfish above us, right in the thermocline where the warmer surface water meets the colder deep waters. After swimming a bit further, me and my buddy managed to break through this lid of jellyfish and could start ascending towards the surface unhindered. 

We surfaced at 51 minutes, got up and started making ready to head home.

Despite all the misadventures and the heat, it was a nice dive day.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Fries's Goby (Lesueurigobius friesii), A species I have not seen before

Sandviken 12/3 2022 Sunny with a chance of cold water.

 Hi and ho!

This weekend we decided to go to the spot furthest in of our somewhat regular dive sites, Sandviken, which is also located a little bit more off the side so to say. 

Angular seaslug (Goniodoris nodosa) 

Dive 1:

Depth 29 m, Time: 45 min, Temp: 5 C

We swam out for at bit before descending into the waters. This time, the waters were quite clear, though with some slight salinity differences that could be seen in the absolute top layers of the surface, manifesting as a slight blurriness when the waters were stirred.

We soon found the bottom and started following it outwards and to the left where we found the cliffs, which we started to follow the instead. After a little while, I spied with my little eye two cracker-like shapes jutting out from the wall, these turned out to be Prawn-cracker sponges (Axinella infundibuliformis), something I haven't really seen much of outside of this site. We continued for a bit longer until one in our group signaled that we were to turn around. So back we turned, making our way towards the starting point. At the safety stop, we trained a bit with deploying surface marker buoys, which went rather well considering the circumstances of the waters being cold and our lips being numb from this cold. We surfaced at 45 minutes and got up, making ready for a surface interval in the sun.

Prawn-cracker sponge (Axinella infundibuliformis)

Dive 2: 

Depth: 26 m, Time: 39 min, Temp 5 C

After a surface interval, we once again headed out for a dive, though only two of us this time, as the third in our group had gotten a bit too cold and choose to sit this dive out (which is fair, it was rather cold in the waters). This time we swam out a shorter bit before descending, following the soft sediment slope out and downwards until we found the walls, which we then proceeded to follow. After a while, it became painfully evident that I had not completely warmed up during the surface interval and was starting to get really cold, so I signalled that we were to turn around and swim back, making the dive maybe a bit shorter. At the safety stop, I once again choose to deploy the surface marker buoy for training purposes, which went well enough in my opinion.

We surfaced at 39 minutes, got up and made ready to head home again.

All in all, it was a super nice dive day, even if the waters are still very cold

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Hairy brittlestar (Ophiothrix fragilis)

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 27/2 2022 Sunny side up

 Hi and ho!

This weekend's weather was absolutely fantastic, with shining sun and relatively warm temperatures for the season. And naturally, there was diving to be had as well. Though this time i went with some people i haven't dived with in a while. We once again decided on Hällebäck, as we wanted to have a bigger chance of Norway king crabs.

Aequorea vitrina, a pelagic hydrozoan species. This one had a lot of gunk on it

Dive 1:

Depth: 32 m, Time: 45 min, Temp: 6 C

We descended into the water column, keeping relatively close, as the visibility this week was terrible in the surface waters and down to about 6 m. After 6 m depth, the visibility cleared up quite well, though there was much larger particles in the water, gelatinous gunk, which is common this time of the year.

Either way, we followed the slope down until we found the wall, where we instead started to follow it to the left instead, making our way down into the depth. On the wall, there were a few Norway king crabs hanging about as well as other critters. At about 20 minutes, we turned around and started to swim back. At about 6 m, one of my buddies were to shoot their DSMB, which we had planned on the surface. It was at this point we sort of lost contact with our other buddy due to the super bad visibility (or at least i did). When we surfaced, i found them again, so probably, they could see us, but i couldn't see them.

Norway king crab clambering on the walls of Hällebäck

Dive 2:

Depth: 28 m, Time: 47 min, Temp: 6 C

After a nice surface interval, we once again headed out into the water. Not much to say really on this dive, as this was sort of a routine dive, we planned it to be a bit more shallow compared to the previous one.

Honestly, it was a bit of a chaotic dive as i think i stayed deep a bit longer than i usually would, So i got very close to my NDL limits, so had to make my way up a bit quicker, and also forgetting to completely signal to my buddies (they followed still, but were a bit wondering) So i really need to get much better at that, guess I've gotten a bit too lax with signaling. Very well, it all ended well anyways, no "surprise decompression stops"

All in all, despite the somewhat chaotic second dive, it was a super nice dive day. 

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Redback seaslug crawling along

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

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

 Hi and ho!

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

Close up of the Norway king crab

Dive 1:

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

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

Common bobtail squid on the bottom

Dive 2:

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

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

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Common grey sea slug going about its business 

Fossen 26/9 2021 One last dive for the season.

 Hi and ho!

This weekend I am once again back in Sweden to my regular haunts in Gullmarsfjorden. We decided to go to the Fossen dive spot, as they were about to close for the season, thus cutting off access to the dive site until April next year. But it matters not, there are several other dive spots that are open for divers year round in the area around.

A small Orange-clubbed sea slug on a piece of fallen down algae.

Dive 1

Depth 30m, Time :54 min, Temp: 14 C

Me and my buddy swam out to the left side of the bay before starting to descend close to the cliff wall there. We had heard from other divers at the site that today was a bit on the silty side, which we discovered was the case indeed. We followed the wall downwards and towards the left, not seeing much bottom, so there still remain some questions of exactly how deep it is, though the nautical chart tells that there is an area that exceeds 40 m right around there. Either way, we swam along the wall, photographing as we went, though I was having problems with my gear for a little bit, as I had forgotten to lubricate the o-rings of my trigger on my camera housing, so it got stuck a few times before it loosened up, which ruined a few photos. After about 24 minutes, my buddy signalled that it was time to start heading back towards the starting point, so we ascended a bit to shallower depth and began the swim back. We surfaced at 54 minutes, got up from the water and prepared to have a nice surface interval in the sun.

Leopard goby, a fish you usually don't catch out in the open like this.

Dive 2: 

Depth 30m, Time :44 min, Temp: 14 C

After about 1 h of surface interval in the sun, we once again made ready to head into the water. Me and my buddy took to the left side once more in order to try and explore the wall even further. We swam out a bit further before starting to descend this time, the waters were still rather turbid, with a very distinct halocline (no thermocline to speak of though). We swam along the wall, photographing as we went, and this time my camera housing did not act up :)

During this dive I observed that there was quite a lot of White sea urchins on the wall from 28 m and below. After about 20 minutes, my buddy signalled that it was time to turn around, so we once again ascended to a shallower depth and started making our way back to the starting point. Above the cliff walls, it was sort of a sloping soft sand/mud bottom with many hermit crabs scuttling about.

We surfaced at 44 minutes, and thus ended the last Fossen dive for the season.

All in all, it was a nice dive day, though the visibility could have been better, but it was a very clear halocline for this time of the year.

So until next time! Keep on Swimming!

A large Dahlia anemone found in a crevice on the cliff.

Skår 31/7 2021- Drills and learning experiences.

 Hi and ho!

This weekend we went to the dive site Skår, which is close to the ferry over the fjord, and one of our outermost dive spots in Gullmarsfjorden. This day the plan was to do some exercises at the end of the dives, and maybe some during the dives. So after getting the gear out of the cars, and kitting up, we divided into dive pairs, made our plans, and headed out for the first dive.

Orange brown aeolid crawling along the silt of the bottom.

Dive 1:

Depth: 27 m, Time: 57 minutes, Temp: 17 C

We descended almost immediately, following the slope downwards, while descending, i tried another way of equalizing the ears, which worked somewhat well, gotta practice that more. The visibility was not too bad this day, a bit of particles in the water, but not the worst I've seen. The water temperature was almost disgustingly warm, with the thermocline at about 20 m depth. Several haloclines could be observed, though not as clearly as some other places, being more like a haze at certain depths.

We swam about for a bit before turning around and swimming back. As we had planned earlier, we deployed the surface marker buoys from 12 m in order to train for free water ascent, though I had to wait until we reached about 7 m, as my line was that long at maximum. So we deployed our buoys, and started ascending slowly, just hanging in the lines. It took some effort to deploy the buoy, so that is something I need to work on too.

We surfaced at 57 minutes, got up and doffed the gear at the site, preparing for a nice surface interval.

Once again, a beautiful Dahlia anemone, one of the prettiest sea anemones out there.

Dive 2:

Depth: 27 m, Time: 58 minutes, Temp: 17 C

After a surface intervall, with some food, and also some rain, we once again headed out in the water. This time, we decided to keep a bit closer to the second dive group, as one of the divers had felt a bit nauseous on the previous dive, so in case they needed to thumb the dive, their buddy would have a secondary buddy from our pair. Either way, we descended together with the other group, but soon it became clear that they were doing ok, so we left them be and continued on our way. On this dive, many Rock gunnels were out and about, unfortunately, they weren't very keen to be photographed, so I didn't get any photos of them. We continued for a bit before it was time to turn around once more. Like the dive before, we deployed the surface marker buoys at 12 m (7 m for me) to drill both free water ascent and deploying buoy. This time, it went a bit better, but still need to work on that. We surfaced at 58 minutes, got up and ended the dives for the day.

All in all, it was a nice dive day, and I clearly need to work on some skills and drills. Oh well.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

The zoantharian Isozoanthus sulcatus, a small colonial cnidarian

Dyk-Leif 24/7 2021 Boat diving in the Väderöarna archipelago

 Hi and ho!

This weekend, me and some buddies went up to the Väderöarna (Weather islands) archipelago, one of the westernmost archipelagos in Sweden, far out in the sea. As it is so far out, the waters are much clearer and has higher salinity, which results in higher biodiversity. Higher biodiversity is something i like, both as a marine biologist and as a underwater photographer. Either way, we arrived somewhat late, but got our gear onto the boat in a orderly fashion, got ourselves on the boat and set out to the dive sites of the day.

Red cushion starfish, a beautiful specimen at that

Dive 1: Stora Sundskär

Depth: 30 m, Time: 60 min, Temp: 17 C

We were dropped off close to the cliff wall, where we almost immediately began descending, however, as we did, i discovered that my ring system was leaking due to something getting stuck in the space between the glove ring and the suit ring, so i had to signal that we had to go up, which my first buddy did get, but the second buddy in our group did not, so i had to signal a couple of times before they got it. We ascended quickly and got that fixed before we continued the dive again. We swam along the wall, with the cliff to our left side, at about 10-20 m depth there was a current going along the wall, so there was a bit of drifting going on. We kept descending for a bit until we hit our max depth, where we spent some time swimming along the wall, looking at the vibrant marine life around us. After a while, it became time to start going upwards again, mostly due to dwindling gas supply and dive time left. So we continued following the wall upwards a bit, encountering the current once more at about 20 m where we let it carry us for a bit. It was during this time, we came across a large area almost completely covered with Black brittle stars, uncountable numbers of them.

We surfaced at 60 min, got up in the dive boat, doffed our gear and got ready for the surface interval with lunch in the nice weather on one of the small islands.

Massive amounts of Black brittle stars (Ophiocomina nigra) covering the seafloor

Dive 2: Södra Ärholmen.

Depth: 27 m, Time: 46 min, Temp: 17 C

After a nice surface interval in the sun, with some swimming because the weather was so good. We got onto the boat and headed out for the second dive of the day. We jumped into the water and immediately descended, following a ravine downwards and outwards, as had been described on the boat. After a while, me and my buddies turned left, following the cliff wall. As we were swimming, i spotted something small and purple, with a closer look, it turned out to be a Violet sea slug (Edmundsella pedata), a species I have been looking for, for quite a while, so of course I had to stay and photograph it a little bit. We continued following the wall, taking it slowly and looking through nooks and crannies for critters. Soon after, I signalled that I had 50 bars left in my doubles, at which point we started to ascend, ending the dive so to say. We surfaced at 46 minutes, got onto the boat, rinsed our gear a bit and started to make ready to go back to the harbour again. Thus ending the dive day.

This was a super nice dive day, even if it is a bit expensive, it is all worth it for sure.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Violet sea slug, a small but colourful nudibranch

Weekend 3/7-4/7 Up and down the coast

 Hi and ho!

This weekend we did two days of diving, one in a new site and one in one of our regular sites. On the first day, we went to the new spot, a spot named Lunneviken, which is close to the Norwegian border and that we have been looking at for quite a while now. The second day, we went to the dive spot at Fossen camping ground, a semi-regular spot for us by now.

Common sunstar on a rock.

3/7 2021: Lunneviken

Dive 1:

Depth: 29 m, Time 51 min, Temp: 12 C

We started with diving on the right side of Lunneviken, as this wasn't a site we knew much about beforehand. As we descended, the visibility was bad in the surface waters, but cleared up pretty good at We followed the slope downwards for a bit before hitting a small drop-off of a ledge, which we followed down  until we saw the bottom at about 23 m depth. The bottom here consisted of shells as well as soft sand or mud. It was also littered with bottles and some other trash... Well either way, we followed the wall towards the right, with not much to be seen in terms of marine life that was outside of what we are used to in the Gullmar fjord.

After we turned around, we got a bit lost and swam a bit too far to the left, surfacing at the far left side of the bay of Lunneviken, so we had to swim back to the right bay on the surface.

The Rock cook (Centrolabrus exoletus), a small yet colourful labrid fish.

Dive 2

Depth: 29 m, Time 50 min, Temp: 12 C

After a nice surface intervall in the sun, with some ice cream and cold soda, we went for the second dive. This time, we planned on diving the left side of Lunneviken, so we did a surface swim to the left side of the bay before we started descending. Once again, the visibility was terrible on the surface, but cleared up as soon as we got a bit deeper down. We followed the wall downwards and towards the left. On this side, the bottom was a bit more interesting, with more life to see, though still not much different from how it is on our regular spots, but then again, it rarely is. The area here seemed to be more with ledges, cliffs jutting out and other somewhat interesting formations, which will probably be better to explore when one has richer gas mixes, as they lie a bit deep.

Next time, we know that the left side is the side to dive on this site, might have been more interesting if we knew this site a bit better.

Rough mantled doris (Onchidoris bilamellata), one of 95 known species of nudibranches in Sweden.

4/7 2021 Fossen

Dive 1: 

Depth: 32 m, Time 61 min, Temp: 12 C

As we descended, the visibility was pretty OK between 5 and 10 m, after 10, there was a huge area full of silted sediment, probably as a result of the another dive club's OW students having a fun dive there at that same day. After swimming through the silt cloud, we got to the drop-off at about 15 m, where the waters cleared up once more. We followed the wall downwards almost straight vertically until we found the bottom at about 30 m depth. After finding the bottom, we started following the bottom with the wall to our right side, taking it easy and looking through crevices and underneath rocks for lobsters, crabs and other marine animals that likes to hide.

As we swam back, we came across a group doing a drysuit course run by one of the dive centres in Gothenburg. It was at this point that someone managed to drop on top of my buddy from this course, which was less than ideal really. We surfaced at about 61 minutes, 1 minute more than planned, good thing we were the first in our group back up, because it could have made any surface organisation a bit nervous if we didn't come up by the pre-planned time.

A beautiful Henricia starfish, this genus keep being hard to identify to species level.

Dive 2:

Depth: 27 m, Time 45 min, Temp: 12 C

After surface intervall, we headed out once more into the waters. This time, due to the second person in the second pair not feeling up for another dive, we choose to dive in a group of 3 instead. We descended in a orderly fashion and started following the wall down. This time we stopped at about 26 m depth, hovering along the wall as we swam to the right. On this dive, quite a few White sea urchins were observed sitting along the wall from 20 m and down. Not much else was out of the ordinary on this dive.

As we neared the end of our dive, my camera ran out of batteries, which was unfortunate as there was a lot of orange brown aeolids in the eelgrass meadow right before the shore.

All in all, it was a nice weekend for diving, We got to try out a new place even :)

So until next time! Keep on Swimming!

An aberrant Spiny starfish, with a seventh arm growing out.

Jordfall 30/5 2021 Night and day.

 Hi and ho!

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

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

Dive 1:

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

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

Cumanotus beaumonti, apparently a uncommon species of nudibranch

Dive 2:

Depth 31m, Time: 46 min, Temp: 12 °C.

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Norwegian red sea cucumber (Parastichopus tremulus)

Jordfall 2/4 2021 Fireworks anemones and nudibranchs

 Hi and ho!

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

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

Dive 1

Depth: 32 m, Time: 46 min, Temp: 5 °C

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

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

Dive 2: 

Depth 30m, Time: 39 min, Temp: 5 °C

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Armina loveni is a uncommon species to encounter

Dive trip to Koster marine national park 15/8-16/8 2020

Hi and ho!  

This weekend it was time for the first official dive trip of the year, after having put off doing such a thing due to the current happenings in the world. So we went up to a dive operator called Bröderna Klemmings Dykhjälp, a operator that goes to Sweden's first and largest marine national park, the Koster sea national park. The park is also known to house a very rich marine life, among the most abundant in all of Sweden.

So, without further ado, let's get the stories rolling :)

Orange-clubbed nudibranches

Dive 1: Morö (the ravine)

Depth: 22 m, Time: 56 min, Temp: 18 °C

Our first dive was done at Morö, in a area known as "The Ravine", this area consists of a set of ravines that slopes down to various depths, in these ravines, many fish like to hide, and skates have been spotted on occasion in the deeper parts. 

So, me and my buddy descended into the water, which was vibrantly blue and very clear for being Sweden. Unfortunately, there was also a veritable minefield of Lion's Mane jellyfish, which made the first moments of the dive a bit nervous. But as soon as we got a bit deeper, it cleared up with the jellies. We swam through a few ravines slowly, as one does when one photographs. 

As we were swimming in the kelp forests between two ravines, I spotted something small sitting on a leaf of kelp, when I took a closer look, I saw that it was two Orange-clubbed nudibranches, so as my buddy was a bit further away filming something else, I spent some time photographing the nudibranches.

After about 30 minutes, it became time to turn around and go back towards the surface, as we had said to the dive leader that we would be down for a maximum of 60 minutes. So we turned around and swam back, photographing and filming as we went. When we neared the surface, there was still quite the number of jellyfish around, which made surfacing a interesting exercise. We surfaced in a orderly fashion, got into the boat once more and went back to dry land for lunch and gas filling.

Very vividly red and beautiful dahlia anemone

Dive 2: Stora Hjälmen.

Depth: 26 m, Time: 52 min, Temp: 16 °C

After lunch and some resting in the sun, we set out for the second dive of the day. This time, we went to a spot called Stora Hjälmen, which was a bit further north from our starting point, inside the Koster national park. When we arrived at the site, we found that it was quite not as calm as we expected, nonetheless, we jumped into the water, descended and began following the wall downwards. After a while, my buddy spotted something in a crevice, when I got closer, I saw that it was a very vividly red dahlia anemone, which I of course spent a few minutes photographing. As we continued, we got down quite deep, which meant we had not as much time until we would hit decompression time limit. So, we had to ascend to shallower depth rather quickly, during this ascent, I spotted a red sun starfish on the cliff, which I quickly snapped a few photos of. When we neared the end of the dive we got into a crevice where we really felt the waves shoving us back and forth as we lay in the water, which was rather fun, if a bit disorienting. So when we started nearing the said end time, we ascended to the surface. At the surface, we had to swim for quite a bit as we got up a bit too close to the cliff.

Cuckoo wrasse male, the photo is less than ideal, but wrasses are skittish and hard to photograph

Dive 3: Bergylteskär.

Depth: 30 m, Time: 63 min, Temp: 16 °C

After a good nights sleep, we got up and got ready to head out to a new dive day. So we loaded into the boat and headed to a site known as Bergylteskär, which is right smack in the Koster national park. When we arrived at the site, the captain of our boat spotted something in the distance, it took me a while to see what it was, but it turned out to be three porpoises, which began swimming around us as we got a bit closer. When they then grew tired of us and left, we went to the dive site and prepared to get into the water. We anchored in a sheltered bay and jumped into the waters, swam out through a narrow gap between the cliffs, and started descending into the dive. On this site, there was a lot of rock formations in the beginning, making for a nice place to look for larger crustaceans like lobsters and crabs. One lobster I spotted, a smaller individual was quite scared of me, and kept backing into it's little burrow, so after I got some quick photos, I left it alone again. As me and my buddy kept swimming, we found ourselves at a wall, which descended to approximately 40 m depth, as one could see the bottom from our position, which was quite far from the bottom itself. We kept following this wall, photographing and filming as we went. After a while, we once again got closer to no-deco time limit. So we went up to shallower depth quickly once more. After a while, we decided to end the dive and ascend to the surface, as there was not much more to photograph or film due to swell.

We surfaced and got back into the boat and  got back to land for rest and lunch.

A very photo-shy European lobster.

Dive 4: Sadeln.

Depth: 26 m, Time: 52 min, Temp: 16 °C

For the last dive of the trip, we went to a site closer to the starting point, called Sadeln, We had heard that this was a good spot for nudibranches, as well as various kinds of fish and crustaceans. So me and my buddy rolled into the water and prepared to dive. We descended and started following the wall, swimming slowly, as we always do when photograph. On this dive there was a lot of different kinds of wrasses among the rocks and crevices, large cuckoo wrasses and ballan wrasses, smaller goldsinny wrasse and corkwing wrasse. At one point, my buddy seemed to have challenged a sizable European lobster to a duel, which was rather amusing to watch (my buddy won btw). Then, when we were starting to go more shallow, I spot something laying in the kelp, when I got closer, I see that it is an Angler-fish, so i quickly signalled to my buddy and we spent quite a while around the angler-fish photographing and filming it. After a while, we decided that it was enough loafing about and time to get moving again, following the cliff we got up to a shallow plateau with a lot of kelp and other brown algae. Here we decided to stay a bit, unfortunately my camera was out of batteries at this point, so no photos from there. When our time was up, we ascended to the surface and ended the dive.

All in all it was super nice dive trip, something we have to do more if there is time and money to do so, jellyfish blooms notwithstanding.

So until next time! Keep on Swimming!

Anglerfish, look at this mug 😆