Wreck of Huis te Warvalo, the Dutch War Ship

The wreck of Huis te Warvalo, a Dutch war ship that sunk in 1715 has been found in mint condition.

A very well preserved wreck of a three masted Dutch figate has been found in the Gulf of Finland. The ship was originally found in 2005 by the Finnish Maritime Administration while mapping the sea bed.

The wreck of a 35-meter-long war ship Huis de Warvalo was found near the Kalbådagrund lighthouse off the coast of Helsinki. The ship had three masts and fourty cannons on two gun decks.

The historical significance of the find was not clear until two years ago, when Sub Zone, an underwater research company based in Helsinki, began examining the site of the wreck. The find is especially significant and unique because no Dutch war ships from the 18th century have ever been found in the Baltic Sea. And certainly none this well preserved have ever been found anywhere.

Diving in Aqaba, Jordan

I posted this text originally in 2012, so it is an older post. This was the very first blog post I ever wrote! While it is a few years old, the facts still remain the same, and I suppose recent events in the Middle East make Jordan perhaps an even more exotic dive destination than it was a few years ago. I have altered the text slightly for this re-post. So here goes:

I visited Jordan with my family last November. What an incredibly beautiful country, what friendly people! Jordan was really worth the visit. Great diving too, clear warm waters and colourful reefs right at the northern end of the Red Sea.



There's a sunken tank near the Seven Sisters site.

Feather Star revisited

I originally wrote this blog post two years ago, but when I recently saw this awsome video of a feather star, I got excited and desided to re-post it, with some very minor changes.

Feather stars are stunningly pretty, and are definitely one of the most gorgeous species of starfish there are. I spotted a marvelously beautiful feather star, diving at Shark Point, near the Phi Phi Islands in Thailand. I had never seen one before.

Feather stars (like all starfish) are beautifully symmetrical in shape-round- and can grow to about 30cm, or about one foot in diameter. A feather star looks pretty much like a round circle of feathers, with its many, many delicate, feathery arms that sprout out from the central disk in the middle, that is the creature's body. Underneath their body they have grasping legs, kind of like fingers that the feather star uses to attach itself on corals and rocks. These“fingers” are called cirri.



I spotted this beautiful feather star while diving at Shark Point, near the Phi Phi Islands in Thailand.

Diving the Way Captain Nemo Used to do It

 Diving is a great sport, no question about it. A way to exercise as well as relax. Sometimes though, the sport of it can get a bit too… sporty. Exhausting. Sometimes you might want the beauty and the relaxation of underwater without of the carrying of gear, getting the wet suit on and then off again, ear squeeze. All the hassle that comes with this great activity of diving that we all love so much. Without even getting your hair wet. Or maybe I’m just getting old.

On Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands, it is possible. I’ve dived on the neighboring island of Tenerife a couple of times before (read all about it here  and here), so this time I went for something different underwater. Do read all the way to the end, I’m saving the best part for last. So read on!

Lanzarote is a volcanic island. The landscape is very barren.

Three Spiked Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

Here is a sympathetic little fish that lives in the cold waters of the Northern Hemisphere. It is quite common in  coastal waters all around the World between the latitudes 35 and 70. The three spiked stickleback can be found in Europe, North America, and Asia. It can live in salt water as well as fresh water. It is also very common right here in my diving back yard, the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea.

The three spiked stickleback is normally only about five centimetres, or two inches, long. It is bright silvery in colour and has three distinct, sharp spikes on the back that he can lift up when threatened. Hence the name, three spiked stickleback, of course.

The breeding habits of the three spiked stickleback are quite peculiar and intriguing. In the springtime, during spawning season, the male three spiked stickleback builds a little, dome-shaped nest out of water plants and weeds on the sea bed. He then begins to court the females of the species by showing off his zig-zag mating dance in the water outside his nest.

Once the female three spiked stickleback is adequately impressed, she lays her eggs  in the nest. After that the male fertilizes the eggs. Then he dumps her and goes on to hit on other females. Sometimes one male can have the eggs of close to a dozen females in his nest, one batch on top of another.

The male three spiked stickleback fiercely defends and takes care of his offspring until they are old enough to find their own food and survive independently.

Outside of breeding season the three spiked stickleback lives in large shoals. They eat small invertebrates, larvae and fish eggs.

Well, that's it this time. It has been a while since I last wrote here, hopefully I'll be able to find the time to write more often. Anyway, if you have any comments, feel free to comment below. All feedback will be greatly appreciated. Dive safe!

Sand Bubbler Crab

The sand bubbler crab is a funny little critter that lives around the sandy beaches of South-East Asia. This cute, tiny little crab, see, what it does is it digs a hole in the sand to live in, and tosses out the sand in hundreds of tiny little balls. These sand balls surround the burrow and form unbelievably impressive, perfectly symmetrical patterns. When it digs its hole, the sand bubbler crab packs sand into balls and pushes them out of the burrow. It then carries the balls of sand one by one out of the hole, thus creating amazing patterns on the sand along the beach where it lives.

A tiny sand bubbler crab on a beach in Thailand

I saw lots of these symmetrical sand ball arrangements at Railay Beach in Thailand. I was amazed at the size and intricateness of the designs. They were like giant snowflakes lying on the beach, no two the same.

Sand bubbler crabs come out in vast numbers at low tide. If you stay quiet, you can see these wonderful little busy-bees working on the beach, making their sand-ball patterns as the tide recedes. On some beaches they come out in their thousands, filling entire beaches with their peculiar artwork.

Railay Beach, Crabi, Thailand

Sand bubbler crabs lives between the high tide and low tide lines. When low tide exposes the sandy beach, they only have a few hours between tides to clear their burrows of sand and find nutrition from the sand before high tide comes again and they have to hide in the sand again and wait for the next low tide. Along with the high tide come larger crabs and other predators that feed on these little things.

That’s not to say that the sand bubbler crab would be safe on dry land, either. They are easy pickings for birds that snatch sand bubbler crabs from the beach for food. They are extremely quick on their feet, though, and quickly hide in the sand at the slightest hint of danger from above.

Another sand bubbler crab

The sand bubbler crab is very small in size, only about one centimeter or half an inch in diameter. It feeds on microscopic organic matter like plankton that has been left stranded on the beach by the retreating water during low tide. The sand bubbler crab sifts organic matter from the sand, and in fact cleans individual grains of sand from any organic matter left on their surface. That way the sand bubbler crab does its part in keeping the beaches of the world clean. Let’s all remember to do the same!

This is my first blog post here for a long time. I have not forgotten this site, I just have not had the time to sit down and write. In fact I have been meaning to, many times. Way too much has been going on these past months in my personal life, so there simply has not been a possibility to find time to blog. I hope that has changed now and I have every intention to start writing on this blog regularly again. Thanks for reading, see you soon!

17th Century Wreck – See It With Your Feet Dry!

A scale model of what the Vasa Ship looked like. On display at the Vasa Museum.

Did you ever see a wreck that looked this great? I'm betting you never did, unless  you've been to the Vasa Museum in Sweden, because Vasa is the only 17^th century ship left in the world. I recently visited what is called the most popular museum in Scandinavia. In my opinion it is definitely the greatest maritime museum in the World!