(15-03-10) Ninth article of our dive series in the Galician waters. Between storms and blizzards, our reporter dives in A Baliza, in the Ría de Arousa, (Pontevedra, Spain) off the Ribeira coast.

    Is that me goinging crazy, or you also have the impression that global warming and its consequences are getting worse? I know I am repetitive, even boring, but this issue is something I am worried about. 

    Earthquakes everywhere, hurricans here and there. In the North ships trapped by ice, seaquakes, huge waves that destroy vessels, incredibly rains do not stop anywhere… Now we are living all these natural disasters that raised so much money in tickets at the cinemas and that made us enjoying for an hour. What is happening? Where are we going?

    Like every weekend, when the weather is good, I always receive in my e-mail the information about excursions organised by dive centres, and among them on Thursdays I receive those organised by Hydronauta, my usual dive center.

    Despite the fact that I was afraid that the weather was not going to let us dive this week, on Thursday I received one of my awaited messages, the one from Hydronauta. The plan was going to dive to “O Glaciar” on Saturday, for advanced, and to “A Baliza” on Sunday for all levels. Although I would like have gone on Saturday, especially to meet my friends Carlos, Aldrey, Félix or Damián, I couldn’t because of work, something I have to thank these days.

MY HOUSING BEING CHECKED

    Trying to get advantage of the bad weather to do something productive, two weeks ago, on Monday after sending my last article, I sent my housing to Ikelite for it to be checked, thinking that it would have it for this dive. It couldn’t be so today, Sunday; things are going to be different from the usual.

    I’m going to go down with my second equipment: a Canon G10 inside a housing of the same brand, arm Locline of 28 cm and flash Inon Z240 slave by optical fibre. Although the G10 is a fantastic camera, the Inon a great flash, equivalent to my DS160, I am worried about the short arm, which will make me reduce the power of the flash to avoid its light appearing in the pictures.   

    Knowing the warning by Jacinto, about that if sea and strong wind announced for today didn’t let us dive safely, we, obviously, will stay in land, only Maxi and I appeared. The sky is cloudy, it announces rain, the wind from SE is 15 knots, and ambient temperature is 14 º C although it seems to be less, not much less but I feel it.

    We already know this dive, “the Buoy” which is, as it names says, a buoy. This picture has not been taken today, and you know why: “I’ll do it later; I don’t like this angle… Let’s see if the ship moves a little…” Fortunately I had this one in my computer… This is the only picture that is not from this weekend, I swear!

    This is an easy dive. From where we start it begins in the 7 meters, although if you go to the buoy you’ll begin from 0 m. If we were above it looking towards the North we would be opposite the most deep and cold area, where we will reach 18- 19 m on a bottom of gravel with rocks as big as a table, and under them there are wrasses and the biggest breams I’ve ever seen.

    It is cold because ocean currents enter this side, and temperature here can be half a degree lower than in the south side, where red gorgonian cover the bottom. To the east we will be in the area with more gravel, fewer rocks and those which are are smaller and with fewer holes. We can see some undulate rays, sea carrots, gobies of all kinds and sizes and the exquisite scallops. 

    The west area is the one I like the most. It is a mixture of the other three. There are big and small rocks, and between them there is gravel where there are sea carrots, scallops, gorgonians, many fishes and the best thing: a shipwreck, in miniature but it is a wreck anyway.

THE SHIPWRECK OF A “DORNA” OF THE 60’S

   It is a small “dorna” (a sort of Galician ship) 3 m long equipped with a single-cylinder air-cooler engine built in the 60’s in Noya. It was an Anllons. Under this boat lives a huge and elusive conger I’ve never been able to take a good picture. Let’s see if it still is…

    Today the choice of fellow is not difficult: we are Maxi and me. I carry the reel, and, what is better, guide the dive. I say so because when you go before the others you see everything first, and there is no risk that someone frighten the animal you want to take a picture of, or, what is worse, that someone raises sediments and you cannot see anything. But this is not the case, I hope.

    Once in the water we start to go down: it seem water is very clear, but we are still going down and in this season water can change in a few meters. Do you remember what I’ve said about the one who goes first sees everything? Here is the proof: just down I see an octopus that wants me to take a picture of it. Note that the reel can be seen, what a mistake by me!

    My fear about the length of the flash arm was true: I had to take 6 or 7 pictures to get a clean image. Once in the bottom we tied the guide reel to the rope and start to dive to the west. I notice that Maxi is using the macro lens, so I deduce this is going to be a relaxing dive in which we’ll look for tiny animals. How do I search? Well, I think that I have already show nudibranches to our readers… where can I find animals more difficult to see? Very easily: where the eye cannot get. And where is it? Just under the stones.

    As you know, there are small nudibranches that have odd habits. For example, there is one that feeds on eggs of Gobbius niger and where do these gobies lay eggs? Under the stones, on the sandy bottom. This way we find this jorunna tormentosa that Maxi saw and show to me. It would be better in a bit more contrasted background, it is difficult to see.

    If you want to see this animal closer, you know that it feeds on sponges such as the haliclona ocluata we met inmediatly on a wall. I’d love to know how these tiny animals know where to find their food. Think that a jorunna is 1 cm long, so 2 m is a long trip.

NICE TEMPERATURE, AROUND 13º C

    After taking some pictures both to the nudi and the sponge, keep swimming to the best. We feel so comfortable in the water that I don’t see the clock, I know we haven’t spend much time, 25 minutes maybe, there is no current, temperature is nice, around 13º C and visibility is 4 to 5 meters.

    As I was saying, we keep swimming to the west, and the big specimens of ballan wrasse and breams I told you above begin to appear. It is now when I miss the speed of reflex cameras. I can’t do anything right. I am used to see, aim and shoot almost simultaneously…

    Maxi is entertained with a small animal and I try to get some good picture of the huge bream I see. But I don’t succeed, as I have such a short arm and if I increase the power to the Inon water reflects and I cannot get an image, and if I reduce the speed fishes are not clear, so today I cannot show you any fish, but another sort of sponge that we met just before Maxi signed that 45 minutes have gone. How fast!

    It is a desmacidon fruticosum, don’t ask me the common name, I can’t find it. This kind of sponge is always in shallow and protected places, in the entrances or exits of the caves, I guess it is there where the rock offers more protection.

    I haven’t got the photograph I wanted, and my partner begins to go up following the reel. When I finish I follow him, and, as U know the ship is quite near, the computer indicates I already have 20 minutes more and in my 12x300 I have 150 bar yet, I go round slowly, enjoying the bottom, no hurry, it is the weekend.  

A NUDIBRANCH RED “FERRARI”

    On route I see some flashes in the distance. As they are two there is no doubt: it is Jacinto, so I approach him to see what he is doing. He always shows me something new, so this time he shows me a nudibranch that I had never seen. It is huge, about 6 cm, red “Ferrari”, very little common Dendrodoris elytra.

    This time I take a whole book of pictures of it. We go in turn to move this animal, and when I realise the alarm of the computer becomes to beep and I have less than a minute for deco. Jacinto also, so we both start to go towards the ship, no stops now, or this is what Jacinto tries, but I cannot help moving a group of red and some white gorgonians. It is a pity that the teacher didn’t want to be my model… not even the face can be seen with the glasses!

    Although I know these pictures of today are not my best ones… I think that I can show a friend of mine that with a compact camera, pictures of the environment can be taken. You only need to know the equipment and, what is more important, know how to take them. Regarding the equipment… this is my second dive with the G10 and the Inon, so you will say.

    Well friends, to say goodbye I want you to know that since my next article I will have in my blog the information of every new species I show you, so if you want to know anything else about an animal you only have to visit it.

    As always, I hope you have enjoy reading this article as much as me doing it. You know you can to contact me or the magazine in case you are interested in any dive.

Text and pictures: Jacobo Alonso
http://fotosub-jacoboalonso.blogspot.com
We have dived with: www.hydronauta.com