Scoglio Ferale, Golfo dei Poeti, Liguria - Italia

Dive Site 2 Tribu Lerici

Entry: 14:14

Dive time: 47  min

Depth:  21 m

Temp: 17 degrees C 

Weights:  10 kg

Insulation: Dry suit

Grotta di Byron, Portovenere, Golfo dei Poeti, Liguria - Italia

Dive Site 1 Tribu Lerici

Entry: 10:10

Dive time: 48  min

Depth:  18 m

Temp: 17 degrees C 

Weights:  12 kg

Insulation: Dry suit

Capistello, Lipari, Sicily - Italia

Dive Site 2 Sicily

Entry: 12:03

Dive time: 48 min

Depth: 31.1 m

Temp:  17 degrees C 

Weights:  8 kg

Insulation: Wet suit 3mm

Amphora Reef, Crete - Greece

 

Greece dive #2

Entry: 10:46am

Dive time: 49min

Depth: 11.3m

Temp: 20°C

Weights: 6kg

Insultaion: 3mm wet suit 

Tank: 10L

Lionfish

Lucky Reef, Crete - Greece

 

 

Greece dive #1

Entry: 9:11am

Dive time: 52min

Depth: 10.4m

Temp: 20°C

Weights: 6kg

Insultaion: 3mm wet suit 

Tank: 10L

Hermodice carunculata - the bearded fireworm

 

Hypselodoris picta

 

 

Tabarca Island - Spain

Tabarca is an islet near Alicante on the Costa Blanca and is easily reachable from Santa Pola.  As it's been more than 6 months since I arrived in Spain, I was unable to rent a car with my UK licence (thanks Brexit) I therefore took the train down to Alicante from Valencia then the bus to Santa Pola. 

There are permanent inhabitats living on Tabarca all year round with numbers increasing significantly during the summer when tourism becomes the main economic activity.  It became a protected marine reserve in 1986 making it a very popular dive site.

Map from Dive Academy Santa Pola

 

Journey towards Tabarca

Dive 1: Islote de La Nao (#7 on map)

Islote de La Nao

Entry: 8:53am

Dive time: 52min

Depth: 9.9m

Temp: 27 degrees C

Weights: 8kg (overweighted 6kg better) 

Insulation: 3mm wet suit  

Met at the dive centre at 7:30 instead of 8:30 due to deterioration of weather forecast. It turned out to be very choppy.  Lots of people getting seasick.  I had planned to dive the next day at Tabarca but diving was cancelled and I decided against doing the shore dives at Cartagena.

Some nice arches which we were told not to swim through to protect sealife (it is a nature reserve)

 

Cratena peregrina

 

Juvenile damselfish, Chromis chromis

The brilliant blue colour of the juvenile damselfish, Chromis chromis, is common to rocky reefs ranging in depths from 3 to 35 m in the Mediterranean Sea.  It has been suggested that C. chromis is the most abundant fish species in the ecosystem and always ranked either number 1 or 2 in terms of most abundant species (Pinnegar, J.K.). It is a major prey item for larger fish and birds.

C. chromis feed in huge shoals and rest close to the seabed at night.  It consumes zooplankton and is a major consumer of fish eggs.  Shoals of adult damselfish fish can be seen here during a dive I did in Almeria.

The conditions made it difficult for some to enter the RIB

 

Choppy! 

Dive 2: Pecio 19 (#9 on map)

Entry: 10:35am

Dive time: 45min

Depth: 19.8m

Temp: 21 degrees C

Weights: 8kg (overweighted 6kg better) 

Insulation: 3mm wet suit  

 

 

 

Pinnegar, J.K. (2018) Why the damselfish Chromis chromis is a key species in the Mediterranean rocky littoral – a quantitative perspective

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jfb.13551