North Sea & Norway, July 2003
This summer, I am spending 7 weeks on a research vessel, joining a marine mammal survey out on the North Sea, as well as covering some few of the numerous, alluring and majestic fjords of Norway.
In the Norwegian fjords I feel like home, the atmosphere, silence, smell and beauty surrounded is always as soothing. The following photos are from Sognefjorden and Hardangerfjorden, including their fjordarms.
Gullmarsfjorden, West Coast of Sweden
One might not think so, but there is a great variety of fascinating life living on muddy bottoms. Benthic fauna live on the sea floor and play a crucial roll in the marine ecosystems.
These, often unique, and distinctive communities are threatened by human impact such as trawling, dredging and seabed mining…
This is a fireworks anemone (Pachycerianthus multiplicatus), a species of tube anemone occupying a, up to one meter, tube-like burrow that extends through the mud, making it stable and stationary.
With its up to 200 tentacles, which are up to 30 centimeters long, it is thought to feed on plankton such as the arrow worms Sagitta.
This anemone was photographed in Gullmarsfjorden, at the Swedish west coast. In addition to Scandinavia, they are also registered on the Brittish Isles and in the middle of the North sea.
Normally found deeper than 20 meters and recorded down to 130 meters, this is a hidden beauty living in silence and darkness...
... one of the many victims in the destructive bottom trawling, which damage entire habitats on the seafloor.
New Caledonia, Coral Sea, South Pacific
In the lagoon of New Caledonia, we sometimes encounter the Tawny nurse shark (Nebrius ferrugineus), an up to 3 meter long shark widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific and similar in appearance to the nurse shark of the Atlantic and East Pacific (Ginglymostoma cirratum).
This shark species is mostly nocturnal, swimming and hunting during the night and is known to return to the same location to rest during the day where it finds shelter under small overhangs or in caves.
It is an a bottom-dwelling shark and an active-swimming predator, using a powerful suction force to extract prey from inside holes and crevices, where it feeds on creatures such as octopuses, crustaceans, sea urchins, smaller reef fishes and occasionally sea snakes.
Even though they are normally found resting during the day, it happens every now and then that we meet these extraordinary creatures actively swimming around during our lagoon explorations.
Antarctica, South Georgia & Falkland Islands, March/April 2023
From the Antarctic Peninsula, we make our way over the Drake, for a brief visit at South Georgia, followed by Falkland Islands.
Here are some few of our many feathery friends, starting up with a Gentoo- and Chinstrap penguin at the Antarctic Peninsula:
Chinstrap penguin, Antarctic Peninsula:
Gentoo penguin, Antarctic Peninsula:
Black-browed albatross, Drake Passage &
Juvenile black-browed albatross, Falkland Islands:
Southern rockhopper penguin, Falkland Islands:
King penguin, Falkland Islands:
Antarctic Peninsula, March 2023
Wondrous Antarctica. Being the southernmost and least-populated continent, it is also the coldest, windiest, and driest continent on Earth. Between October and April the Antarctic pack ice retreats to reveal this remarkable place and we get to explore a bit of its pristine world.
I so much enjoy the extensive silence and remote ambience when being priviliged to experience this vast wonderland. As we are in mid March already, I have now spent one month guiding at the Antarctic Peninsula and we start to reach the end of the season soon.
As ice, snow, mountains and glaciers are a big part of the Antarctic experience I thought to share some pictures of this cold beauty in its many different forms. Some Antarctic late summer vibes ;-)
