Sepias and dry-ish suits

Marieke, one of the divers from my diving club, asked if anybody was interested in joining her, on short notice, on a dive in the Oosterschelde, to check out the mating Sepias (or Cuttlefish).

Based on intel from other divers, we tried our luck at the Zeelandbrug divesite. High tide was at roughly 12:15, so we entered the water at 11:45. We swam around for a bit, and saw lots of life, like nudibranches,various crustaceans, but no sepias. We followed a hunch, and went a bit deeper. At about 12 meters, we found them: a sizable group of sepias (accompanied by an equally sizable group of divers :P). We spent the rest of the dive studying these magnificent animals. They were completely relaxed about the divers, mating with and fighting other sepias, but ignoring the divers completely. Many swam past within hands reach. Marieke took pictures and movies, will upload them when I have them.

After we returned to shore, we warmed up in the sun, and decided we wanted to to another dive, so we dove to the Den Osse divesite in the Grevelingen.  Getting to the point where we actually started the dive turned out to be a bit exciting. First, fully dressed in 70 lbs worth of gear, I lost my balance and went down. Luckily the only damage was my ego, as I felt it coming, and went through my knees and rolled. The second exciting part happened when I entered the water.

I dive in a drysuit. It keeps the water out though tight seals for your hands and head, and you enter the suit through a large, watertight zipper in the back. Somewhere down the line I forgot to ask my buddy to close that zipper. So, when I entered the water, I had this chilly sensation (normal), followed immediately by a cold and wet sensation (not normal :P). I figured out immediately what the problem was, climbed out of the water again, got out of my gear, drained as much water as I could, closed the zipper, and got my gear back on. Luckily my thermal suit actually works pretty well when wet, so while not completely comfy, I wasn’t cold for the rest of the dive. The rest of the dive was uneventful, with plenty to see.

These two dives also fulfilled my  requirements for the CMAS 2* diving certification, so that’s over and done with as well :D.