Spring Growth

1/12/2016 (607)

Yesterday dive conditions were a bit of a surprise. The ocean surface was calm, almost flat, yet the water seemed to be very murky. When I jumped into it I realised why. I felt as if I was in a washing machine. Water was moving a lot. Sand and pieces of colourful algae were swirling around, destroying visibility. Surprisingly that did not stop in deeper water … well, I mean 7.5 metre which was my bottom depth.

The dive was great otherwise. Schools of sweep and jack mackerel were flying above rocky reefs, there were pelagic species like kahaway and trevally there. I saw a couple of eagle rays too. Water temperature is increasing, I still felt warm after 70 min. in the water.

Slovak:

Včerajsie podmienky ma dosť prekvapili. Hladina mora bola pokojná, takmer ako zrkadlo, ale aj tak bola voda pri brehu špinavá. Keď som do nej vliezol, zistil som, prečo. Cítil som sa ako v automatickej práčke. Voda sa neustále pohybovala. Piesok aj kúsky rias boli rozvírené, čo poriadne znižovalo viditeľnosť. Tento pohyb na moje prekvapenie neustal ani v hlbšej vode … teda mám na mysli hĺbku 7,5 metra, čo bola najväčšia hĺbka môjho ponoru.

Inak bol ponor celkom skvelý. Kŕdle “sweeps” (slovenský názov nepoznám) a makriel poletovali nad skalnatým útesom, ryby šíreho mora (“kahawai” a “trevally”) patrolovali tesne pod hladinou. Ako obyčajne, stretol som aj zopár rají. Teplota vody sa zlepšuje, ani po 70-tich minútach vo vode mi nebola zima.

School of sweep Scorpis lineolatus above rocky reef with some kelp coverage. Visibility improved a lot further off-shore.

Colourful and dense algae so typical for the spring period of fast growth.

Algae everywhere … swell causes the pieces of algae to move constantly above the flat sandy bottom. The layer can be tens of centimetres thick, visibility is basically zero in it.