Low pressure

.

Gulen, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway 1/10-2016

After many great dives, followed by a small repair job on the rigging, we leave Bergen to continue our voyage north. Surrounded by dramatic dark skies, the scenery gets even more beautiful when colourfully decorated by a couple of rainbows :)

.

With storm warning in the forecast,  and a rapidly dropping barometer, we know what kind of weather to expect the next days ahead. Much more wind and rain with other words, and who knows maybe also another rainbow or two...

.

Thanks to the great shelter the many islands provide, and with the wind in the right direction, we still have a comfortable ride north despite the cold and rainy days on the water.

.

In the county of Sogn og Fjordane, we stop by at Gulen Dive Resort to say hello to Ørjan and Monica who is running the dive center.

Last time we were here was in 2007. At that time we were filming for our two films about cold water shark and corals and we then made many great dives at the spot.

.

Time flies and nine years after, we are now very happy to be back to the wonderful place Gulen is, and to meet our friends again :-)

.

The days keep being very grey and rainy, but this doesn´t prevent me to explore one of the smaller fjords with the SUP!

.

In the smaller fjord I manage to find some quite moments between the heavy windgusts. The air feels very cold, but in my wetsuit I stay warm and comfortable even in the chilly rain showers :-)

.

After some cold and very unstable days, the weather starts to get more cooperative again. Time for us to set sail and continue the trip!

Shark diving in Norway

.

Bergen, Norway 23/9-2016

On our way north, we stop at different places along the Norwegian coast to dive and film. Some places are new to us, while others are areas we have been to before with great dive spots we now like to explore further...

.

Below are some screen shots from our most recent dives. And yes, if I ever powder my nose, this most likey only happens before visiting my fishy friends... ;-)

.

Our last dives has been drop off dives at a 300 meter deep wall. A wall filled with different kinds of anemones. A beautiful dive site in itself, the main reason for our diving here however is to find and film sharks.

.

The deeper we go, the darker it gets and at 40 meters, we hardly see any light from above.

In the dark, 13°C cold surrounding, we suddenly curious eyes reflecting the light from our film lamps...

.

It is the eyes of Spiny dogfishes, the shark we are looking for! This kind of shark is normally getting a bit longer than one meter.

A species that once was one of the most abundant, but due to overfishing it has decreased by at least 95%  in European waters during the last two decades.

 .

When it´s time for us to get back to shallower waters again, we happily get more shark company. They seem to be a bit curious about us and follow along for a while :-)

.

So far, we haven´t seen as much sharks in the area as we experienced last time, when diving here 7 years ago. The reason for this may be many... Our fingers are still crossed for another dive with hopefully more sharks tomorrow!

Southern Norway

.

Skudeneshavn, Southern Norway 15/9-16

It almost feels like we have had four seasons during our last week of sailing. A week which has been taking us from the west coast of Sweden to the south-western part of Norway.

.

A couple of nights has been spent in different locations at the very southern part of Norway. A feeling of remoteness even though the civilization isn´t very far away...

.

From grey, cold and rainy days, to blue skies and warmer winds :-)

.

After a stop in Tananger, we are now in Skudeneshavn on Karmøy island, at the south-western part of Norway. As this cozy harbour offers free wifi, I´m now able to update my blog a bit :-)

.

It is actually here, in Skudeneshavn and Syre, were I encountered my very first dolphin 21 years ago. I was then 11 years old and my meeting with the 4 meter long friendly bottlenose dolphin "Flipper" made a big impression on the little girl I then was.  Even not the 4°C cold water could stop me to spend four hours with my new friend!

Even though "Flipper" is gone already long time ago, it feels great to be back in the area which is filled with such wonderful memories.

.

Our voayge north continues already early morning tomorrow, and we will most likely be in the area of Bergen in a couple of days.

.

With the current 25°C in the air it truly feels like summer has returned, great conditions for our upcoming time at sea!