After months far out on the beloved Ocean, it is good to be back among trees, lakes and luscious landscapes.
The Swedish West Coast is famous for its bare cliffs, salt-sprinkled archipelago, and cute fishing villages, but there is also a lot of beautiful green and lush here. One of my absolute favourites, a peaceful place to be where the sea, forests, lakes and trolls never are far...
Barents Sea, High Arctic, June-August 2024
During our recent marine mammal survey in the Arctic, where we spent time surveying in the off shore waters of the Barents Sea and around Svalbard, we spotted the elusive bowhead whales out in open waters south of Svalbard´s mountainous archipelago.
This whale species is the only full-time arctic resident among the baleen whales and is normally found near or in the sea ice.
Out with The Norwegian Institute of Marine Research on a two months marine mammal survey in the Arctic.
This summer’s survey covers the offshore waters of the Barents Sea, Greenland Sea and around Svalbard.
From calm seas and clear skies to rainy and windy days or long lasting thick fog, from our watch towers we get a great variety of weather and views while patiently keeping a good lookout for signs of any potential marine mammal in the sea.
The northern fulmar keeps being our most frequent and very appreciated company during our watch hours. Such a great experience it would be to be a fulmar for a day effortlessly flying in the strong winds and above the stormy seas!
When winds are strong and the sea too big for the survey, the mountainous fjords of Svalbard provide us with good shelter.
This year, we sighted the elusive bowhead whales, more on this in the next blogpost.
A little visit to Columbretes, a Natural Park and Marine Reserve formed by isolated volcanic islets off the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
Even if brief, it is always lovely to return to the wonderful, blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea to observe life both inside as well as outside of the marine reserves.
It clearly shows how incredibly important marine protected areas are for both marine life and those who live on them! 💙
More on Columbretes in a previous post: Islas Columbretes
Orust, West Coast of Sweden, Scandinavia
Wonderful spring! Although I appreciate all seasons, spring is probably my absolute favorite. So much that happens in nature, behind every single bush and stone, full of life among both animals and plants.
Meanwhile there is so much rising life in both forests and waters, this is also a peaceful time for reflection and magical moments.
New Caledonia, Coral Sea, South Pacific
There is troll-binding world hidden beneath the waves. This place, filled with beauty, fascination and surprises, is always calling for me.
As much as I love taking the scuba gear on, I love the simplicity and freedom freediving and snorkelling provide. All one need to start exploring the incredible underwater world is a mask and snorkel.
In this blogpost I´d like to share some shallow water beauties from the New Caledonian lagoon. The majority of the pictures are taken just a couple of meters below the surface, only the photos of the turtle, rays and nurse shark are from 5-7 meters depth.
So here are some of our many aquatic friends, how they commonly are called in english, and their latin names:
Blue-green chromis (Chromis viridis)
Surf parrotfish (Scarus rivulatus)
Zebra shark/Leopard shark (Stegostoma fasciatum)
Bluelined snapper (Lutjanus kasmira)
Whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus)
Fringelip mullet (Crenimugil crenilabis)
New Caledonian sea krait (Laticauda saintgironsi)
Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas)
Pink whipray (Pateobatis fai)
Ocellated eagle ray (Aetobatus ocellatus)
Tawny nurse shark (Nebrius ferrugineus)
