Moss 28/6-30/6 2024, Dive trip across the border

Hi and ho!

This time around, I went on a longer dive trip over the weekend with my dive club, the destination was to be the area around Moss in Norway, a short distance from the Swedish border, 3 whole days of diving (was the plan).

European lobster doing european lobster things

Dive 1: Heyerdalsbukta (i think) 28/6 2024

Depth: 16.2 m, Time: 55 min, Temp: 13 C

The first dive of the trip, on the same day we arrived to the camping spot and had unloaded our things into the cabins. The divesite was close to our accommodation, and of hard bottom type, there was also a wreck of a margarine carrying boat somewhere close to shore. Either way, a team first went down into the water to check the visibility and current, they reported little current but bad visibility, so the rest of us decided to do this as well. The walking in was a bit hard due to waves and slippery rocks, but we managed to do it somehow. As me and my buddy descended, we found out that the visibility was indeed very bad, but also that further down, there was quite severe current to be had, but we kept trudging on, the current and visibility cleared up at about 9 m depth, after which, the dive was quite enjoyable. We followed the cliffs that went down in plateaus to about 15 m, where my buddy made a few signs i didn't quite understand, and that i mistook for something else, so i turned around the dive as we were also starting to near the 30 minutes mark. We swam back, not having found the wreck (due to another mistake on my side, i didn't quite get the compass heading right. Either way, we ended the dive at 55 minutes without too much hassle, though as the time was rather late, we also decided to not do a second dive on this day.

Bit unexpected to find Deep sea king crab this late in the season here

Dive 2: Kjøvangen brygge 29/6 2024 

Depth: 32 m, Time: 53 min, Temp: 9 C

On the second day, the original plan was to do boat dives, but as the weather had worsened, with strong winds from the south (a leading reason for the bad visibility), so we got one of the locals to recommend us a site for shore diving instead, turned out to be the site i went to last time i was in the neighbourhood, Kjøvangen brygge, a good spot indeed.

Me and my buddy was first in the water this time, we had the instruction to go down quickly and try to find the line leading down towards deeper parts. And we did just that, we found the line pretty quickly and started following it downwards. At about 12 m depth, we encountered the thermocline and the waters cleared up (that was a common thing along all the dives, the thermohalocline was the border between bad visibility and decent visibility). We soon got to the cliff walls present on this site and continued following them down to about 30 m. after which we made our way a bit more shallow. The highlight of this dive was for me us encountering a Deep sea king crab out of season, as they usually are not seen this time of the year in Gullmarn, but I guess Norway is different, even so close to the Swedish border as we were. Either way, after spending some time to photograph the crab, I signalled for us to turn around and head back. As we swam back, we did see quite a few lobsters out in the open. We ended the dive at 53 minutes, got up and onto the pier where we doffed our gear.

Norwegian Red Sea cucumber (Parastichopus tremulus) 

Dive 3: Hvitsten torg 29/6 2024

Depth: 22 m, Time: 45 min, Temp: 11 C

We headed to another site for the second dive of the day, another site i have dived before, this one was a few years ago though, during the "pre-covid" times. This time, i was a bit unsure of diving here, as the wind was blowing straight into the bay, giving rise to quite big swell, but nonetheless, we did our dive. And good was that! We swam out and started to descend, this time we were a group of 3, so it was a bit harder perhaps to keep up the contact between the divers, but we managed. At about 14 m depth, the waters cleared out and the visibility became much better. We followed the cliffs and slopes towards the right, we did end up a bit deeper than planned for this dive perhaps, as our max depth should have been 20m, but as seen, we got down to 22 m, so not too much of breaking the depth limit on this one. After a while we turned back, and as we swam over a rock jutting out, one of my buddies signalled for me to look at something, this something turned out to be a Striped Mullet, a fish we usually see late in the autumn on our sites, but there it was. So i did stay a bit and snapped a few photos before continuing. There was also a lot of lobsters on this site, didn't count, but at least 4 were seen as we swam along. We ended the dive at 45 minutes, got up in the swell and swam in towards land, got up and made ready to head back to our cabins.

Striped mullet, a fish you usually see late autumn in Lysekil

Dive 4: Fristranda 30/6 2024

Depth: 23 m,  Time: 51 min, Temp: 13 C

On the third day, we asked the local dive centre about some good shore diving places close by, preferably more southwards, so that we didn't have to drive for so long to get home afterwards. Said and done, we ended up on a spot called Fristranda with a nice sandy beach and a somewhat protected bay. We made our dive buddy pairs and headed out, I ended up with a newer diver, so i took it a bit more slowly and tried to keep more of an eye on them than i usual (tried being the operative wording here). Well either way, we swam out to a buoy before descending, as to have some sort of reference to make it easier for us, after getting visual contact with the bottom and finding our bearings, we began swimming to the right as we had been tipped off on regarding this site. After swimming a bit along a slope, we found a wall at about 14-15 m, which we then started following for the rest of the dive. Nothing of note was really happening on this dive, it was quite a simple and relaxing dive. After turning around and reaching the end point where we had our safety stop, I deployed my DSMB, waited out the safety stop, and then started to ascending. At the surface, my buddy had a bit of a issue as they had breathed down to about 10 bars, and thus weren't able to completely inflate their BCD, but that was easily fixed with a few breaths of oral inflation. But i guess that if i am to dive with newer people, i will have to tell them to show me when they have 50 bars left, because my buddy sure didn't show that. 

Edible sea urchin with a old tubeworm tube on top of it

Dive 5: Fristranda 30/6 2024

Depth: 26 m, Time: 51 min, Temp: 13 C

The last dive of the trip we made new pairs, as some people didn't want to do a 5th dive. So i ended up with the same buddy as i did on dive 2, and we decided to dive towards the left, to see what could be found there, said and done, we swam out to another buoy a bit further away before descending. We followed the slope downwards and to the left, and before long, we found rocks starting to jut out of the bottom, providing a nice hard substratum for things to settle on. We followed the rocky wall, looking and beholding the things, there is really not much of note happening to us either, and it was quite a nice and relaxing dive as well. We did get a bit lost, as the rocky walls did a turn towards the north in a way we didn't quite expect as we went, so we ended up surfacing a bit further out than we planned and had to do a bit of a surface swim back. We got up and doffed our gear, making ready to head home after a weekend of diving :)

All in all, it was a nice diving weekend, even if the visibility could have been better and not everything went to plan. Some new lessons were also learned :)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Horseman anemone (Urticina eques)

Jordfalls hamn 9/6 2024 Eh? is this thing still on?

Hi and ho!

Ok, it really has been a while, and not much diving has happened due to various reasons, and it seems like that will be continuing for a bit more.

Either way, managed to get a dive day during the weekend, so am quite satisfied with that, the spot was Jordfall marina, the go-to for easy but interesting diving. On this dive i also did some collecting of samples that i volunteered to do for a scientific study

Horseman anemone on a rocky outcropping

Dive 1: 

Depth 28 m, Time 54 min, Temp 9 C

Me and the buddy waded out into the bay as usual, our plan was to dive towards the right as there was a lot of people on the site on this day (a local dive centre having a small excursion there too). We had asked beforehand how the visibility was on this day (kind of windy), and had gotten the answer that above 15 m, the visibility was bad, while below, it was ok-ish. Said and done, we descended in line with the outer edge of the innermost jetty, and as it was said, the visibility was quite bad on the way down. 

Establishing visible contact with the bottom, we stopped up a bit and made sure that everything was a-ok before continuing on our merry way towards the right, following the soft sediment slope downwards. At about 18-20 m, the visibility cleared up a bit and actually got pretty decent, it was also around here where the thermocline sat, going from 15 C to about 9-10 C quite quickly (and one could feel that). We swam past anchoring blocks for the floating jetties, forests of Peacock feather-duster worms (Sabella pavonina) and huge fields of the soft bottom hydroid Corymorpha nutans. At about 25 m, we found a smaller area of rocky outcroppings, which had some of the hydroids i was ordered to sample (family Tubulariidae), so sampling was carried out with a little bit of shaking and swearing (those things really got stuck easily on our gloves). After doing the sampling things, we continued further. As we started to run lower on the NDL, we turned around and started swimming back, following the slope upwards. Soon after turning around, we came across another rocky outcropping that housed a huuuuge Horseman anemone (Urticina eques) with beautiful patterns, not the typical colouration though, a tad bit redder that one. At about 18 m depth on the way back, we encountered a field of tires and various pieces of trash, which i sort of marked in my log, so that we know the depth (because positioning underwater is next to impossible). As we got to our safety stop, the current had turned and was flowing outwards, which dragged all the lion's mane jellyfish out from the shallow waters and our way, so we spent the safety stop dodging and weaving from jellyfish stingers.

We ended the dive at 54 minutes, got up and made ready for a surface interval in the sun :)

Norwegian red sea cucumber (Parastichopus tremulus), a species that you usually see a bit deeper down

Dive 2:

Depth: 30 m, Time 40 min, Temp 10 C

After hanging out in the sun, we headed out once more to dive, this time, we planned to dive towards the left side, along the more common route of Jordfall marina. We descended and began following the slope outwards and to the left, soon hitting the "forest" of Tall Sea-pen that is present at around 25 and down in this area. We swam around a bit before it was time to start heading up, on about 24 m, we came across the rocky cliffs that goes down in a "stair steps" sort of way, forming plateaus at various depths, it was also here we found a large swath of Tubulariidae hydroids, where another sample was promptly taken. It was at this point that my NDL started to get real low, and we had to speed up our ascent a little. The NDL didn't quite clear either until we reached about 12 m.
Either way, we did our safety stop and ended our dive at 40 minutes, making it a little shorter than normal for the summer season.

All in all, it was nice to be back in the waters again for a proper dive

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Spotted dragonet (Callionymus maculatus) on the soft sediment bottom

Jordfalls Hamn 11/11 2023 Winter is comming

 Hi and ho!

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

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

Dive 1: 

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

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

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

Angular crab doing angular crab things

Dive 2:

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Boston facelina crawling on a piece of tire

Stavanger 1/7- 3/7 2023 A journey to the west

Hi and Ho!

It has once again been a while (but such is life).

In the meantime i have been diving as usual, and most recently went to Norway for a diving trip, more exactly the Stavanger area, where the goal was to look for Spiny dogfish, a small species of shark native to this part of the world.

Due to the weather, we couldn't go to the spot we had originally planned, but such is life when diving.

Prideaux's hermit crab, together with the Cloak anemone (Calliactis palliata), these two are almost always encountered together 

1/7 2023

Dive 1: Talgje

Depth: 30 m, Time: 50 min, Temp 8 C

We were shown a site on the eastern tip of a island called Talgje, so that became the name of the dive site. We began with kitting up on the shore, where there was a few benches one could put the gear on while kitting up, we then divided ourselves into pairs and started to wade out into the water (with some difficulties, lots of algae covered slippery rocks. Well into the water, it quickly dropped off and got deep, so we got our bearings on the surface, talked through the plans and started to descend. As we descended, we quickly realized that "oh mighty Poseidon, the visibility is REALLY good" and for real, the visibility must have been 20-30 m, almost tropical levels. Our guides (local divers from the area) started with putting out a meshbag with some mackerels in it, in order to potentially lure out the spiny dogfish in the area. We then left the meshbag hanging mid-water and continued to swim along the wall, taking in and enjoying the sights. As we swam along, i started to spot hermit crabs that were swimming away from us, getting a bit closer, I realized that this was a different species than the one we have in my usual diving spots. A species we actually don't have in Sweden, the Prideaux's hermit crab. 

After about 20 minutes, we turned around and made our way back towards the starting point, where the mesh bag was located, hoping to find sharks circling around, but alas, no sharks this dive. We ended the dive at 50 minutes, got up and started to make ready to head to the cabin we had rented, to make some dinner (as it was a bit late at this point)

Dive 2: Ølbergstrand

Depth: 3 m, Time 40 min, Temp: 11 C

From our guides, we had heard that there was a dive site reachable from the shore close to the cabin we were staying in, a dive site where there was a kelp forest, So me and two other buddies headed there after eating dinner, we soon found that it was outside a small harbour, and that the most effective way to get there was to enter the water in the harbour and do a surface swim out. Well that is what we did, as soon as we had gotten out of the harbour, we started to descend into the water, and soon found the kelp forest after a bit of swimming. We spent some time in the kelp forest before one of us was starting to get sea sick (there was some swell from the open sea further out, and this was a exposed site), so we started to make our way back at this point. We ended our dive at 40 minutes, got up and started to doff our gear and head back to our cabin.

Gold-star Tunicate in the kelp forest of Ølbergstrand

2/7 2023

Dive 3: Horgje

Depth: 29 m, Time 55 min, Temp 8 C

We got invited to do a boat dive together with the local diving club, Stavanger Dykkerklubb. The tour took us to the nearby island of Horgje, more exactly the south-eastern tip of the island, where one can either dive along a wall, or a more gentle slope with a lot of algae forest. Me and my buddy chose to dive the wall this time, and so we did. Unfortunately, i had accidentally left the camera out in the sun again, so i was getting a fogged up lens, and thus, no photos from this dive. Oh well, me and my buddy swam along the wall, the visibility was pretty good here as well, though not as good as Talgje. After about 30 minutes, I made signal to turn around, and we started to swim back to the boat. We ended the dive at 55 minutes, got up in the boat and doffed our gear, waiting for the other's to finish their dives.

Dive 4: Fantahåla

Depth: 36 m, Time 66 min, Temp: 8 C

The fourth dive took us a bit outside of Stavanger, to the site of Fantahåla in Lysefjorden. This site is a wall that goes quite deep down, so one needs to have good buoyancy control. We were guided there by Gjesdal dykkerklubb, using their boat to reach the site, we were dropped of inside the ravine of Fantahåla and swam to the wall before starting to descend. As we descended, it quickly became clear that visibility was to be quite bad, to the level of  the kind of visibility we have here in Sweden. We followed the wall, and soon, our guide pointed their flashlight at something, this something turned out to be a Deeplet sea anemone, another species that is relatively rare back home in Sweden. As we swam along, there were more of the Deeplet sea anemones, but as my camera housing was still a bit foggy, I couldn't quiet get a good photo until the tail-end of the dive. 

We ended the dive at 66 minutes, got back into the boat and started to head home once more :)

Deeplet sea anemone with a Norway king crab hiding underneath

3/7 2023

Dive 5: Talgje

Depth: 29 m, Time 59 min, Temp: 8 C

The last dive of the trip was taken at Talgje, this time, we went down into the water on the other side of the bay, where it was much much easier to get in and don our fins. We swam out of the bay and started to descend pretty soon afterwards. Once again, the visibility was incredible, maybe slightly worse than the previous time, but still extremely good by our Swedish standards. We followed the wall once more, hoping to find any sharks, but to no avail, there was no sharks this time either, there was however a lot of other critters to photograph instead, so i was still satisfied. After swimming around for about 30 minutes, I made the signal for me and my buddy to turn back, And so we did, we did however miss our mark by a bit, and ended up on the wrong side of the bay, so there was a bit of a surface swim back to our starting point. We ended the dive at 59 minutes, got up and started doffing our gear, making ready to head back to the cabin for dinner and cleaning before leaving the next morning.

All in all it was a very satisfying trip, even if one of my drysuit boots was leaking quite severely, so i ended ever dive sopping wet.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Candy-striped flatworm, there was a lot of them on the site of Talgje

Ormestad 20/5 2023 - When you stare into the abyss

 Hi and ho!

This weekend, we decided to dive on a site we haven't been to in a while due to the small bit of hassle it is to get there compared to our other sites (we are lazy if anything), either way, the site of Ormestad is known for "the great wall" a almost vertical cliff wall that extends from the surface and down to 90 m depth. This makes the site very popular among technical divers, as you can get any depth you want within most types of technical diving. When we got to the site, it was almost filled to the brim with technical divers (which was sort of expected, with the super fine weather and whatnot), but we managed to find some spots where we could start to set up our gear.

Henricia.sp starfish, as hard to ID as ever.

Dive 1:

Depth: 27 m, Time: 50 min, Temp: 7 C

Me and my buddy swam to the left side of the Ormestad bay, to the point where the wall sort of starts before we started our descent. This day the surface temperatures were quite high, but as soon as we got down to about 4-5 m, we hit the thermocline, which felt like getting smacked in the face, almost immediately it went from 18-ish C to 7 Celsius, with the halocline sort of right there as well. After getting our bearings and sort of acclimatizing to the temperature drop, we started to head towards the drop-off of the wall. It really is a special feeling to dive on the wall of Ormestad, you really stare into the abyss when you look down, as there is no visual contact with the bottom here, so you got to have good check on your buoyancy here. Anyways, we followed the wall, photographing as we made our way. After a while, I made signal to turn around, and so we made our way back towards the starting point. We surfaced at 50 minutes and made our way back to shore, making ready for a surface interval in the sun.

Sea loch anemone, the wall of Ormestad is full of them.

Dive 2: 

Depth 26 m, Time 40 min, Temp: 7 C

After a surface interval in the sun, with some light snacks, we once again made for the waters. This time we decided to dive on the right side instead of the left, over the sandy slopes instead of the vertical wall. After descending through the thermo-halocline, I soon discovered that I had apparently left my camera in the sun, resulting in fogging of the lens which would hold the rest of the dive (it happens). Either way, we continued onwards, following the slope downwards. After a while, we came across a rocky outcropping that jutted out of the soft bottom , so we started to make our way over it. Here was indeed quite a lot of life on and around, sea urchins, sea anemones, hydroids, and even a rugose squat lobster, but as my lens was fogged up, i couldn't snap any photos of them. Soon after, i signalled for us to turn back towards the starting point, and a little bit later, as we were swimming, something suddenly darted out from the bottom in front of me, I turned my head and saw that it was a squid, which is quite rare to see when it is light outside (and i could naturally not snap photos because of fogged lens). After posing a bit in front of it for my buddy (to show how small the bobtails are), we left it alone again and continued on our way back. We surfaced at 40 minutes, got up and started making ready to head home again.

All in all, despite the heat on the surface and the cold in the water, it was a nice dive day, and we did get the nice surprise in the form of a squid too :)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

White sea slug (but yellow) Cadlina laevis

Jordfall 14/5 2023. Starting to warm up.

 Hi and ho!

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

Devonshire cup coral

Dive 1:

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

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

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

Fireworks anemone up close and personal

Dive 2:

Depth: 30 m, Time: 40 min, Temp: 7 C

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Orange brown aeolid out on the soft mud bottom.

Jordfall 30/4 2023

 Hi and ho!

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

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

Dive 1:

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

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

Devonshire cup coral

Dive 2:

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

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

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

Jordfall 16/4 2023 Satisfying dives all around

Hi and ho!

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

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

Dive 1: 

Depth 24 m, Time 57 min, temp 6 C

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

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

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

Dive 2:

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) crawling out of its burrow

Hällebäck 28/1 2023 Last dive of January

Hi and ho!

This weekend we were planning to go to Sandviken, but due to various things that occurred, we went to Hällebäck instead for diving. The weather was slightly warmer and less windy compared to the last week, but it is still cold and wintery.

Rugose squat lobster (Munida rugosa) sitting in a crevice

Dive 1:

Depth: 29 m, Time: 50 min, Temp: 4 C

We swam out to the usual spot right in front of the second jetty of Hällebäck before we started descending as a group of 3 due to limited surface visibility. During the descent, one in our group signalled that there was an issue with their gloves, so we ascended again to the surface, where it was decided that me and my other buddy would continue with the dive, while our third person would swim back to land, as having wet gloves this time of the year is no good for diving. Well, after deciding thus, me and my buddy once again started to descend. The visibility this day was a little worse in general, but better than last week in the surface at least. We continued following the slope down and outwards, looking for various critters and things, but no king crabs this dive, and few nudibranchs too. Either way, at about 20 minutes, I signalled for us to start turning around and swim back to the starting point again. We ended the dive at 50 minutes, got up and started making ready to head back, as we decided that 1 dive this day was enough.

All in all, despite all things, it was a nice day for diving in my opinion. 

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Spiny squat lobster out and about :)

Hällebäck 21/1 2023 And we're back in business!

 Hi and ho!

It has been a while, mostly due to Christmas holidays and people not being available. Either way, we should be back in business now (yeah totally not jinxing it).

This week, we went to Hällebäck for diving, as it is the season for King crab and nudibranchs right now, and Hällebäck is a very good site to find them at.

First Deep-sea King crab (Lithodes maja) of the year, winter is the best season for them.

Dive 1:

Depth: 32 m, Time: 51 min, Temp: 5 C

We jumped in and did a surface swim until we were in line with the second jetty of Hällebäck, which is a good place to start descending. We gathered up a bit on the surface, as we realized on the surface that there was a brown freshwater lid on the top, limiting visibility to the extreme. Well, either way, we started descending and at about 6 m, the waters started to clear up a bit, though still a bit gunky. As soon as we found the bottom, we started to follow it outwards and to the left, looking for the king crabs and other things that make this time of the year interesting in Hällebäck. After a few minutes of swimming and searching, I chanced to look up on the wall, and lo and behold, a king crab sitting there. After staying around and photographing it for a little bit, we continued on, following the cliff walls. At about 20 minutes, we turned around and started to make our way back towards the entry point again. We surfaced at 51 minutes, feeling a bit cold and miserable, looking forward to the warm drinks we had prepared for the surface interval :)

Typical Spiny squat lobster (Galathea strigosa) photo

Dive 2:

Depth: 23 m, Time: 45 min, Temp: 5 C

After a good surface interval, it was time to head back into the waters, this time we were planning to dive towards the right side instead, keeping it more shallow, while also looking for squids. We descended closer to the jetty that we jumped in from. After descending, we followed the slope towards the right side. Not much was seen on this dive really, probably because of the season and temperature in the water, though there were some critters out and about in the darkness. The seafloor however, did look quite barren and also quite a bit "dirty" in a sense, maybe next time, I should take a photo of it, for scientific documentation?

Once again, we turned around at about 20 minutes, making our way back to the starting point once more. We surfaced at 45 minutes, got up and started doffing our gear and make ready to head home.

All in all, it was a nice first dive of the year, if a bit cold, but that's to be expected for the season.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Close up of a Daubed shanny (Leptoclinus maculatus)

Jordfall 12/11 2022, Night diving once more

Hi and ho!

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

Devonshire cup corals (Caryophyllia smithii)

Dive 1:

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

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

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

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

Great pipefish (Syngnathus acus)

Dive 2:

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

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Common hermit crab (Pagurus bernhardus)

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 24/9 2022 Easy diving to ease the mind

 Hi and ho!

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

Eelgrass anemones on a piece of eelgrass

Dive 1:

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

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

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

North sea Cerianthid, but this one has quite short arms

Dive 2: 

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

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

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

An eel!

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

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.

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.