Taking a break from time to time in blogging I hope is both acceptable and natural. In anyhow, I have no intention of giving up. In addition, the posts will soon be about sweet places and adventures more around the West Coast and I can tell you more about our move.
Today's blog post actually already falls under the heading "sweet places on the West Coast". Marcin and I have now had the privilege of visiting Smögen twice this year. The first time was at the end of January with -12C in the air in the mornings and around zero at the water surface. But this time, that I'm going to write about now it was much warmer.
Arrival
During Maundy Thursday, we arrive at Smögen Dive & Experience around half past nine in the evening. We unpack what we need for the night, prepare and go to bed after a glass of wine and chat in the living room at the diving center. After a week in the recording booth, you sleep quite well, you get quite tired in the head from recording a course (but it's fun).
Diving
The next day we all wake up asleep to a wonderful morning. It's still a bit cold in the air due to north winds, but the sun is shining. The plan for the day is that Marcin and I will do a dive together in the morning and after lunch today Miranda will try to dive in the sea while Jasmine with her ear problems will have to make do with some dry suit snorkeling on the surface
Marcin has brought the job's system camera with a UV housing and has planned to take photos. I act as a patient model when it comes to taking split vision pictures and posing as far as I can even below the water surface. Yes, once I close the chain all the way and really have a dry suit.
In the water, we both notice what an incredibly nice view it is. What a difference from when we were here last winter. Not because it was bad then, especially not if you compare with the view we East Coast residents are used to. But now the view is really crispy. You can lie several meters from the bottom and still see everything.
In the shallow parts there is so much life that you could just lie still there the whole dive and watch everything. We choose to dive the same route we dived here last time but then the cold made the dives a bit shorter. Today we get really far and the walls are full of "dead man's hand" (see the coral in the picture). It also abounds with magic crabs that are first seen to be well camouflaged but reveal themselves quickly when they move. I keep track of time and try to count on a little extra if it is very current in the constriction by the canal, what I did not count on is that we stopped several times to take pictures while on the way back we swim the most, maybe it's because I need pee or we're hungry. The dive lands in a total of 47 beautiful minutes. Now it will taste nice with lunch.
The girls have both been out on the rocks while we have been in the water and dived. It is so beautiful nature to walk around on the rocks as well.
Mirandas premiere
After lunch, it's time to prepare for Miranda's premiere dive into the sea. Expectation is mixed with nervousness. But she is determined and wants to dive anyway. Marcin prepares everything on her and soon she is lying on the surface of the water and bouncing. When she wants something, she also has great patience and does not whine in the slightest about seals and that she is forced to wear wet gloves in the spring water. A few extra kilos of lead later she gets into the water and they dive around for at least 10-15 minutes while Jasmine and I snorkel around.
Up comes a happy Miranda who has seen both a broken starfish, some crabs and more. To our delight, she also wants to dive again tomorrow. I can promise she slept well, in my lap, out in the sun in the afternoon.
Well sometimes life does not have to consist of so much. The rest of the stay is filled with superb diving in a crisp view, good food, good sleep and nice walks at sunset on the rocks.
The dive centre
What both Marcin and I are loves with this place is the convenience. There are never any direct distances to walk, for example.
Large space to hang up suits and other things to dry (this was especially appreciated when we were here last winter) and change in bad weather.
Large bridge so it's never crowded when you have to jump in.
Always just as good and well cocked homemade food, you never have to go hungry.
The tanks are refilled during the meals so you do not have to worry about that either, you just have to take the bottles you want filled to the container where the compressor is.
The rooms are fresh with really large mattresses so you sleep super well, in addition they have been luxurious with two pillows / bed. There is plenty of space in all rooms. The only thing that is negative is the sensitivity - if a snorer lives in the room next door, it can be heard clearly. But most of the time you sleep so heavily anyway so it does not do much.
If I know us, we will soon go back there, maybe we will take the opportunity to rent kayaks or freediving then. We are always just as relaxed and mentally rested when we leave here so there will definitely be more trips here. But we also have other places to visit and dive at. The diving is going very well overall and has now started to make more real mining dives. Keep an eye out for my experience of our first comeback into mining diving in Tuna Hästberg.
Here I am jumping / sliding in the water. Thanks Mirran for the movie. Thank you both Mirran and Marcin for all the photos of me.