Location: Sardinia
Wowzers, today has been a full day of adventure! Tucked up into the north end of Sardinia near Palau (no, unfortunately, we did not make it to THAT Palau…), we spent the day diving and exploring the nearby rocky headlands. Cavalli Point to the west was our morning site: full of towering seagrass beds, schooling Chromis, heaping boulders, and of course, an intense visible thermocline dropping from 27C at the surface to a chilling 20C past roughly 13m…BRRR. The second group even managed to find a dope as swim through along the side of the point, with colorful purple and orange and green and yellow sponges, zoanthids, tunicates, and algae lining the walls. Despite a brief, unexpected lunch gust blowing directly into our otherwise protected cove, we returned for the afternoon, this time to the eastern point of Don Diego. Again, the benthos was dominated by large boulders and seagrass, with serranids, goatfish, and schools of Chromis and breams flying in the late-arvo sunlight. Nearby sand patches also provided much entertainment (and flooded masks) as we took off our fins and flipped around for the remainder of the dive. The last group came back just in time for a pizza bagel dinner, and all were ready to cozy up for the night.
Or so we thought! At about 2200, a sudden squall decided to descend upon the entirety of northern Sardinia (apparently reaching Rome even!). As we were anchored in fairly shallow water and our position was compromised, we quickly pulled anchor, made our way north through the channel to the nearest island, and took shelter. All the while watching lightning surround us, and other vessels maneuver quickly, responding the same way. Thanks to Tom and all of the crew onboard, everything went smoothly! But wow, what an eventful evening.
Please enjoy some underwater photos:
1. Natalie in the swim through
2. My dive team self-dive #1 (Daniel, Max, Abi, Nat, Sage, Annie)
3. The landscape at our second site
4. Max: nnn/
5. Annie lying in some seagrass
6. Zoanthids under the crevices inside the swim through (Parazoanthus axinellae)
7. Spines of an urchin (Paracentrotus lividus)
8. Med Moray Eel (Muraena helena)
9. Cutie little nudi (Discodoris atromaculata)
10. Look at that wind pick up to over 40 knots!!