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

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!

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.

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.

Dive trip 3/12- 5/12 2021. Club excursion to the "polar region".

 Hi and ho!

This weekend, the dive club had their yearly winter excursion to Lysekil, combining it with the last parts of the CMAS** course we've had during the autumn. The weather was clear but windy, which in combination of damp ocean air and minus degrees temperatures was really cold if i have to be totally honest. like really freaking cold even. But regardless, we still went diving :)

Rock gunnel (Pholis gunnelus) hiding in the algae on the bottom

Dive 1:

Depth: 18 m, Time 25 min, Temp: 6 C

After some retakes due to insufficient weighting, somewhat leaky drysuit (not mine this time) and other stuff, we started descending quite close to the pier in Släggö, We began swimming outwards, following the sloping downwards. I have to admit that i did get a bit lost and we went a bit too diagonal to reach the usual spots of Släggö, instead we swam out over the soft bottom slope where one usually finds squids during night dives. But as it was daytime, no squids to be seen. Not much of note on this dive. But as we neared the 10 m mark, my buddy started corking, i tried to turn them around and get their  gas out of their suit, but that proved unsuccessful and i had to let them cork while i quickly ascended to the surface to make sure they were ok, which they were. We then swam back to the starting point and got up from the water. When we got up, my buddy told me they were soaking wet, which is less than ideal when it is sub zero temperatures in the air as well as quite windy.

Small frilled anemone on the side of a sunken rowboat

Dive 2:

Depth: 20 m, Time: 50 min, Temp: 6 C.

After lunch and some time to rest, it was time for the night dive part of the course, and of course the other non-course participants like me were doing a night dive as well, no way we were gonna miss this. Well, my previous buddy didn't participate due to their suit being sopping wet and that we discovered that there were holes in the arm seals (and the neck seals was extremely bad too, the dive centre really shouldn't have even had this one out for renting i feel). So i dived with another group instead on this dive. We entered the waters and descended almost immediately in order to look for the lumpsucker that has set up shop. We didn't see it this dive, but alas, tis fine, I've seen it quite a few times already. We started swimming diagonally across the bottom, heading towards the area where one usually can see the squids. At about 18 m, we encountered the thermocline, which was really quite deep down this time. Here it was about 10 C, but as we didn't stay for too long either, we didn't get to enjoy it for quite as long. After turning around and swimming back for a little bit, i noticed a small shape on the bottom, finally, a squid! So of course i had to stay a little bit and photograph the critter. As i was photographing, some of the other dive pairs came up to us to look at the little squid. We swam back and surfaced at 50 minutes, got up and started loading our gear into the car, preparing to go back to the hotel.

The squid!

Dive 3: 

Depth: 12 m, Time: 30 min, Temp: 6 C

On the second day of diving, we first went to Släggö once more for some of the last course stuff, and to just have a nice easy dive after breakfast. I paired up with my buddy from yesterday and we jumped into the water in short order. We quickly descended after that and almost immediately found the lumpsucker hanging out. Unfortunately, i had forgotten to remove the camera cover, so no photos of the lumpsucker this time, as i had to faff about with removing the lens cover underwater, with drygloves on (i managed to do that, but by then the lumpsucker had moved away) Well either way, we continued for a bit more along the bottom, following the line and the slope. While my buddy did have some issues with buoyancy and trim, they did sometimes lie really beautifully in the waters :)

Well either way, at about 12 m, i sort of felt that we shouldn't go deeper, as my buddy was flailing around quite severely right there and then. So i signalled that we were to turn around, which was probably for the best. We swam back in orderly fashion and i once again got a bit lost on the way back. But it wasn't too badly off course from the pier. We surfaced at 30 min and got up, my buddy said they had been leaking from the neck all dive, so they quickly got into cover to change into dry clothes, as it was still rather windy here.

Dahlia anemone with very clear banding

Dive 4:

Depth: 27 m Time: 51 min. Temp: 10 C

After packing up our things and heading out from the hotel, some of us decided that we were to do a last dive in Skår, the dive site close to the ferry terminal in Gullmarsfjorden. 

Me and my buddy descended quickly as soon as i felt it was deep enough, we soon found the dropp off and followed the wall closely, trying to get to the thermocline as soon as possible. The thermocline was found at about 14 m depth this time, which was quite shallow compared to the thermocline the evening before. Well, either way, we continued following the wall downwards. After about 25 minutes, i made signal  to turn around, as we had to swim back too after all. So we turned around and started to head back. As we neared the end of the dive, i spot a small shape on the sand bottom, turned out to be a sand shrimp, which promptly dug itself down into the sand as soon as i got close, but i managed to snap a few photos before it completely burrowed down. We surfaced at 51 minutes, and it was cold in the surface, so we quickly got up and started to doff our gear. Making ready to get home.

All in all, It was a nice dive trip :)

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Sand shrimp (Crangon crangon) peeking out of the sand

Jordfall 23/10 2021 Cold air, warmer waters and krills

 Hi and ho!

This weekend we went to our old haunt of Jordfall marina, a site we haven't been to in a while due to various circumstances, but at last, we got ourselves there. We also decided to go a bit later, as to get some night diving in, as the season is starting right now. When we got to the site, it was still somewhat warm in the air, so we kitted up, divided into pairs and started to head out into the water.

Close-up of a Plumose anemone, with the orange mouth part visible

Dive 1:

Depth 32 m, Time: 47 min, Temp 14 C

Me and my buddy had planned to do a sweep over the deep soft bottom, so we swam out to the end of the marina before descending in free water. As we descended, the first few meters was quite low visibility, but that cleared up pretty quickly, though there was much particles in the waters. We headed outwards and slightly to the left, following the slope. As there was a lid of brownish fresher water on the surface, we were hoping to see squids on this dive, but no squids were to be seen on this dive, instead, there seemed to be a lot of the starfish Luidia sarsii, a close relative to the Sand sea star (Astropecten irregularis), on this day. After a while, my buddy signalled that it was time to turn around and swim back towards the starting point. We surfaced at 47 minutes, got up from the water and got ready to do a surface interval.

Luidia sarsii a starfish found on soft bottoms, similarly to it's relative the Sand sea star

Dive 2

Depth: 27 m, Time:44 min, Temp: 14 C

After a surface interval with some hot drinks and trying to keep up the body heat a bit, we got ready to head out once more. Now it was significantly colder in the air compared to when we arrived, so it was a bit of a pain to keep warm and going. We also did some change around with the pairs, as one in the other pair felt like they didn't want to do a second dive, feeling a bit cold and all. So three, including yours truly, headed out into the water for a second, somewhat shorter dive. The waters were warmer than the air, so it was honestly a bit of a relief to get into the waters. We once again planned to do a sweep over the soft deep bottom, looking for squids and the like. We descended at the end of the floating pier and started following the slope downwards. On this dive, almost immediately me and my photographer buddy got swarmed by krill that swam in the light from our camera lights. It was almost to the level of being annoying, there was that much krill, but as they kept flitting about in front of the lights, it was impossible to photograph them properly. As we turned around and started swimming back, we came across the smaller Fireworks anemone that can be found at about 25 m on the slope in Jordfall. Unfortunately i didn't manage to snap a good photo of it :(

We surfaced at 44 minutes, got up and doffed our gear, making ready to head home.

All in all, it was pretty nice of a dive day, but next time i gotta prepare more warm beverages, or chocolate before the dive

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Sand seastar, with a nice visible pattern

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.

15/9-18/9 2021. A trip to Flekkefjord, Norway with Chalmers diving club.

 Hi and ho!

Now that our dear neighbour to the west, Norway, has opened their border after a year of plague and uncertainty, my club decided that now was a good time to take up the tradition of doing a longer dive trip to Norway, as the diving there is in a completely different class compared to Sweden. Said and done, the destination of the trip was decided to be Flekkefjord on the south western coast of Norway, reasonably far away from home. There is also a historical wreck there, the wreck of Gudrun, a WW2 ship that is located just outside of Flekkefjord.

Urticina eques, a beautiful anemone closely related to the Dahlia anemone (and hard to differentiate)

Dive 1: Gudrun 1

Depth: 35 m, Time: 46 min, Temp 17 C

We anchored the boat onto the float that marks the position of the wreck of Gudrun. Decided upon dive pairs and headed off into the waters. All divers descended following the rope in quite the quick fashion as a group, almost too quick really as i got some problems with equalizing at 18 m and had to stop for a little bit to clear it, but as soon as that was done we kept going. Gudrun herself came into view at about 20 m, meaning that there was about 7 m visibility straight down on this day. We came down on the rear of the wreck and all swam up to the big steering wheel in order to get the obligatory photos while posing with it. After photos were snapped, we split up into the decided buddy pairs and me and my buddy began swimming around the wreck, looking at the rudder, propeller and all the other things she had to offer. As Gudrun lies quite deep, me and my buddy didn't have that much time on her, even with the best gas mix for the depth we were on. So after a little while, we started to run low on time before deco, so we started swimming back to the rope in the rear and started ascending along it. In order to stretch out the dive as much as possible, I decided to ascend as slowly as humanly possible (and so i could try and photograph the critters on the rope too) As we were slowly making our way up, we started to see the second dive pair further down underneath us, but soon they also were at about the same depth as us at the safety stop. We surfaced at 46 minutes, got up in the boat and got ready for surface interval.

Star ascidian (Botryllus schlosseri), a colonial sea squirt

Dive 2: Torsøy

Depth: 10 m, Time: 65 min, Temp 17 C

The second dive of the day was decided to be closer to the Flekkefjord dive club house, as we had gotten out pretty late, nonetheless, we found a small bay relatively close to the starting point, parked the boat and got into the water. Here the bottom was quite similar to the type i am used to, muddy, with lots of smaller fish and decaying algae. Honestly this was quite a boring dive site, but nonetheless, me and my buddy kept swimming around. We surfaced at 65 minutes, got back into the boat about at the same time as the others, and drove home to the diving club house.

European painted top shell (Calliostoma zizyphinum)

Dive 3: Saueholmene

Depth: 28 m, Time: 62 min, Temp 17 C

We headed out to the outer parts of the archipelago, the weather was perfect, almost too perfect, with almost no waves out in the open and the sun shining brightly. We rolled into the water from the boat close to a cliff wall, swam closer by and started descending as soon as everyone was ready. When we descended, we discovered that this area was an area with plateau's on different levels and waving kelp forests. Though honestly i didn't get to enjoy it quite as much as my dive buddies kept swimming on like they were on some kind of schedule, or torpedoes trying to sink a boat or something. Either way, i was pretty ticked off by the time we ended the dive. Well, there was some pretty large fishes, mainly saithe swimming around in the kelp forest, which my buddies tried to hunt, but to no avail. We swam around for a while before we ascended to the surface, looking at the vibrant kelp forests and marine life.

We surfaced at 62 minutes, got into the boat and got ready to have a surface interval. while the other group did their dive.

Polymastia boletiformis A type of sponge.

Dive 4: Hunden

Depth: 23 m, Time: 39 min, Temp 17 C

After a surface interval we went to a place the other group had dived the day before, a small rock called Hunden (meaning "the dog") that jutted up right outside a bigger island. From the day before we knew this was an area where you could find and pick scallops. So we did some shifting around in the dive pairs and headed off into the water as the first dive pair. We swam on the surface until we got close enough to the small island that is Hunden. before we started to descend. The visibility on this dive was pretty ok still, though there was some particles in the water here. As we swam along, one of my buddies signal me to look at something, after looking a little bit, i realize it is a small Monkfish that is hiding in the sand. So i of course went up to it and started snapping photos for a bit. After i was done, we continued along the cliff and started to head a bit downwards. As we swam along the cliff wall, i was photographing some sponges when i spot a very pretty sea anemone a bit further away, when i get closer, i see that it is a Horseman anemone, and a beautiful one at that. So i excitedly began photographing it before letting the others close to it (as it usually is with me and photographing)

It was around here one of my buddies started to signal that they were running low on gas, so we began ascending shortly afterwards. At the safety stop, the first buddy tried to shoot their SMB, but the line had somehow gotten tangled, so i got to do it instead, this time it went pretty well :)

We surfaced at 39 minutes and swam back to the boat

European monkfish (Lophius piscatorius), though a very small specimen

Dive 5: Gudrun

Depth: 34 m, Time: 31 min, Temp 17 C

Once again we decided to do a dive on Gudrun, this time however, me and my buddy knew we had much less time on the wreck due to not being able to fill nitrox. We rolled into the water and quickly descended along the rope. down to the rear of the wreck. This time both me and my buddy got photographed with the big steering wheel, even though the photo of me did end up blurrier than the rest, oh well. After getting our photos snapped, one in the other buddy pair spotted a sizeable Lumpsucker in a crevide on the wreck, so i spent some time photographing that one before we split off from the other pair for our own dive. Me and my buddy swam around the rear of the wreck for a bit, even dipping down to the propeller before it was time to swim back along the surface line as we were running low on no deco time. We ascended slowly along the line and surfaced at 31 minutes. Got back into the boat and doffed our gear, getting ready for a surface interval with lunch.

Lumpsucker (Cyclopterus lumpus) trying to hide away from the camera (and the camera man)

Dive 6: Kålesundet

Depth: 30 m, Time: 28 min, Temp 17 C

The last dive of the trip was to a "unknown" 1700s wreck where there were some really large cannons spread out in the area. But as the exact position was unknown to us, we looked through the sea maps and position data on the internet and buoyed a spot where we thought was "appropriate" for this dive. Me and my buddy were the first pair in the water, we followed the buoy line downwards, but sort of lost it at 15 m depht due to various stuff, we did find it quite soon afterwards either way when we got a bit deeper. When we found the line again, we started seeing weird shapes a bit further way, when we swam closer, we realized that "holy guacamole! these be the cannons!" So we had managed to buoy the spot almost perfectly, we thus swam along the bottom looking at the cannons of the wreck, where they lay on the bottom, some being stuck in a upright position, others laying flat on the bottom among the rocks. At one, my buddy waved at me to come and look at something, that something turned out to be a medium sized lobster hiding underneath the cannon. I of course spent some time photographing it as i usually do. When i was done we continued on, albeit in the opposite direction, and soon afterwards, my buddy signalled that they were running low on gas. As we started to ascend, i realized there was quite the current going at about 10 m depth, so we were swept along for a bit. We surfaced at 28 minutes and got back into the boat in a orderly fashion, doffed our gear and got ready to be on boat watch as the other divers went diving (this was an area where we couldn't anchor).

All in all, it was a super nice dive trip, with almost perfect conditions.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Opening to one of the 1700s cannons on the bottom, this was the first of many.

Fossen 4/9 2021, Gear troubles, diver bubbles.

 Hi and ho!

This weekend me and my dive buddy went to the Fossen camping dive spot, something that has become a bit of a regular occurrence now. The weather was nice, unexpectedly nice actually, as the forecast had told of clouds with a risk of rain, but no it was sunny the whole time while we were diving. 

When we were setting up the gear, the first trouble occurred. I had recently changed to longhose on my primary regulator, this was to be the first time i was to use it. When pressurizing the setup, I realize that there is a leak somewhere where the hose connects to the reg, after a bit of unscrewing and fixing around, I come to the conclusion  that the O-ring inside the hose is broken and need to be changed. What a perfect day to forget the save a dive kit with stuff like that back home, right? Either way, there is a dive center in the area, so that was quickly fixed, and we began heading out into the water. As we did this, I realized i had forgotten to attach my inflator hose to the drysuit, so we fixed that quickly, while also disentangling my backup regulator, as that had gotten tangled as well. After that, we finally could start descending.

The tube feets and spines of a Common sea urchin

Dive 1: 

Depth: 27 m, Time 52 minutes, Temp 18 C

As we descended, my buddy got some problems with their mask filling up with water, so we aborted the descent and fixed around the mask a little bit on the surface, making sure that it didn't go over the hood, after this was fixed, we once again started descending, this time it went much better, but as I trimmed out, I realized that the hose to the backup regulator was sliding over my head, so I spent the dive shoving it behind my head every now and then. As we descended i also spotted a shape a bit off in the distance, with a closer look I saw that it was a somewhat sizeable Lion's mane jellyfish. After snapping a few photos and then ducking out of the way, we continued following the slope until we found the drop-off. At the drop-off we followed the wall descending for a bit before starting to swim to the right. After a while, it was time to turn around, so we ascended to somewhat shallower depth and started swimming back towards the starting point. We surfaced at 52 minutes, got up, doffed our gear and got ready for a nice surface interval in the sun.

Nice closeup of a Dahlia anemone 

Dive 2:

Depth: 26 m, Time: 55 min, Temp: 18 C

After a surface interval with snacks and sun, it was once again time to head into the water. This time I had more control on my stuff and thus didn't encounter any problems. As we were to descend, my buddy suddenly lost one of their weight pockets, so I had to go down and look for it. After searching around for a bit, I found it and brought it up to the surface. After re-attaching the weight pocket to my buddy's BCD and making sure it was well attached, we once again swam out into the bay. This time we headed to the left side of the bay, as we never really dive on that side. We descended without a hitch and started following the slope diagonally to the left and downwards. After a little while, we came across a drop-off and cliff walls. The cliff wall itself was quite covered with animals such as anemones and tube dwelling marine worms, almost like the big wall in Ormestad. As we were swimming along the wall, I spotted something small and white, with a closer look, I saw that it was a Candy striped flatworm, a beautiful little critter that looks a bit like a nudibranch. After staying and photographing it for a bit, it was time to turn around the dive. We surfaced at 55 minutes, got up, doffed our gear and started getting ready for heading home.

All in all, in spite of the somewhat chaotic beginning of both dives, it was a super nice dive day, even if the visibility was less than ideal in the deeper waters, lots of particles in the water.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Candy striped flatworm (Prostheceraeus vittatus) looks like a nudibranch, but is not at all closely related.

Jordfall 7/8 2021 Silt clouds and fresh divers.

 Hi and ho!

Once again, new week and new adventures. This time we went to a site where we haven't been in a while due to various circumstances, the Jordfall marina. We also brought with us a newly certified diver for their first out of course dive. We were originally supposed to be 4 people, but one of us got a sore throat the night before and thus decided to sit this one out. Either way, after picking the bottles up, together with the rest of the gear, we headed to the site. There were surprisingly many people on the dive site this day, even as the weather reports had been telling of rain and thunder, but we managed to find ourselves a parking spot close enough to the gear-up point. We made our dive plans, did our checks and headed out for the first dive.

Close-up of a North sea tube anemone.

Dive 1:

Depth: 18 m, Time: 47 min, Temp 17 C

We swam out to the cliff, where we decided that it was a good place to descend. The fresh diver wanted to do some checks on about 5 m of depth, which they did while we hung about for a bit. After the checks were done, we continued to swim, following the wall downwards and west. It soon became clear that something was not quite right going on, they were standing almost vertically in the water column, with their fins in the bottom, making big silt clouds in the water column. The silt cloud is to be expected, but standing vertically in the water column isn't.

Either way, after a while i had enough of it and signalled that we were to turn around, as i felt that we couldn't continue the dive like this. We swam back towards the entry point and did our safety stops before ascending to the surface. At the surface, i got the new diver to do a weighting check after emptying their stuff down to about 40 bars. Turns out they were indeed grossly overweighed, needing about 6 kg of lead instead of the 10 kg i had given them, so it kind of was on me a bit that they were having some issues there.

After doing the weight check, we got up from the water and ready for the surface intervall.

Mud sagartia, a small but somewhat colourful anemone

Dive 2

Depth: 18 m, Time: 57 min, Temp 17 C

After a surface intervall with food and talks, it became time to head out into the waters once more. The plan was about the same as the previous dive, try to not go below 18 m of depth, and follow the wall. Said and done, we swam out to the cliff, but this time, we swam a little bit further out, so we rounded the corner a bit, before descending. This time, the new diver had a much better position in the water, even if they still kicked up quite the cloud of silt, but then again, so did i too. We swam along the wall and bottom towards the south west, quite the distance before it became time to turn around. At the safety stop, i decided to try and deploy the surface marker buoy for training, which went kind of ok-ish this time around. We surfaced at 57 minutes, got up and doffed our gear, preparing to go home.

All in all, despite the problems on the first dive, it was a nice dive day.

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

Orange-brown aeolid on some fallen down red algae.

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

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

Hi and ho!

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

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

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

Dive 1: 

Depth 29 m, Time 40 min, Temp: 6 °C

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

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

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

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

Dive 2:

Depth: 29m, Time 52 min, Temp: 6 °C

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

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

Släggö 13/3 2021 Sunshine and clear waters

Hi and ho!

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

Frilled anemone in a Wide-angle photo attempt

Dive 1:

Depth: 16m, Time: 35 min, Temp: 5 °C.

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

Hermit crab posing nicely for the camera

Dive 2:

Depth: 27m, Time: 42 min, Temp: 5°C

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

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

So until next time! Keep on swimming!

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