Smögen 28/7 2020 Rain and boat diving

Hi and ho!

Northern Sea fan, a small red coral, unassuming like many things in Swedish waters

Been a while since I wrote, there was a small pause in diving due to my regular buddies being unable to get out diving, But at last we could go out this week, we went out for a boat dive this Tuesday in Smögen. The weather was to be less than ideal, with somewhat stiff winds and rain all day, but as Smögen lies in the outer coastal band, these forecasts are often not quite accurate, except for the winds that is.

Either way, we got to the dive center, signed up for the boat, kitted up and prepared for departure.

Dive 1: Stenskär

Depth: 32 m, Time: 50 min, Temp: 17 °C

Red cushion star :)

We had been told when going through the dive site, that there was Northern Sea fan corals on this site, a bit deeper down. So me and my buddy decided to go and look for them, We got ready and hit the water in a orderly fashion. Descending slowly and photographing as we went. As we neared the 30 m mark, I saw something in the corner of my eye, something that looked a bit like a thin red line, I turned my head and behold! A Northern Sea fan coral colony on the rocks, I signaled to my buddy to come and look, so we spent some time around that area, as there was a lot more corals there than we anticipated. When we neared our "no-deco" limit, as well as hit the turning gas pressure, we turned around and began swimming back to the starting point. As we went, there was a lot of marine life all around us, fish, starfish and other organisms in great abundances. 

When it became time to end the dive, I handled the Surface marker buoy and we ascended in a orderly fashion.

Dive 2: Måkholmen

Depth: 23 m, Time: 52 min, Temp: 17 °C

Common sunstar, with a very vivid crimson colour

On the second dive, the weather cleared up, and we got a nice sunny second boat tour, this time we went to a site a bit closer to the dive center.

Me and my buddy rolled into the water and descended as planned, we followed the cliff wall, keeping it to our right, as we were instructed to do. On this dive, we encountered lots of masking crabs, spiny starfish and at one point, a great scallop, which I did not photograph unfortunately. At the end of the dive, I took a quick peek underneath some kelp leaves, and found me a decently sized Common sea hare.

We ascended in a orderly fashion after the safety stop, thus ending the dive.

All in all it was a very nice dive day, even if the weather could have been much nicer in the beginning.

So until next time, keep on swimming!

Common sea hare, on a leaf of Kelp

Smögen 15/5 2020. Sea hares and wave actions.

Hi and ho!

This week me and my buddies did a bit of a spontaneous dive trip to Smögen on Friday afternoon, we had originally planned to go earlier, however the weather seemed less than ideal due to strong winds from west. Nonetheless, we went out there after some convincing later in the afternoon/evening, as the bay where we planned to dive is a bit sheltered from westerly winds. After arriving, setting up the surface organization and kitting up, it was time to get into the water.


Dive 1:

Max depth 5,4 m. Temp: 10 °C. Time: 56 min.

Gas mantle ascidian, a small, simple, and unassuming creature

We jumped into the water from a small jetty in the bay where the dive center is located in Smögen, and swam out a few meters from the jetty as to avoid entanglement in the anchoring ropes of the jetty and then started descending. The waters were relatively clear and we followed a cliff wall outwards as we had decided upon on the surface while getting ready. As the weather outside of the sheltered bay was still somewhat windy, there was a lot of waves, which could be felt underwater as well as we were rather shallow. This motion made it a bit hard to lie still and shoot photographs as one was moving around a lot as a result of the wave energy in the waters.
We swam on for a while with me and my buddy trying to photograph the best we could as we went. I have to admit to my shame that it took way more time than necessary for me to even start to see the sea hares that was around in great abundances in the algae, i guess their camouflage do work rather well as they were very good at blending in among the brown, green and red algae. I did manage take some photos, however as it was hard to stay still, a important thing when doing macro photography, most of them came out blurry. When 30 minutes had passed, me and my buddy turned around and began swimming back as we had told surface that we would be down for 1 h maximum. We swam back in a slow and relaxed fashion, trying to photograph as we went.


All in all, it was a very nice dive trip :)

So until next time, Keep on swimming!

Dotted Sea hare, not a Nudibranch, but something quite closely related.