Good evening, everyone!
The rain from the second half of Golden Week has vanished, and today was a refreshing day with early summer sunshine.
Yesterday, the weather turned stormy all over Japan, with tornado damage and even hail, making for a rough last day of Golden Week.
Here in Sado too, thunder
rumbled from time to time, and we hesitated a little about heading out to sea, but we dived safely.
The sea, which had welcomed lots of guests for the first time in a while, had of course turned quiet and lonely today, and we were the only ones diving at Kitakoura...
As for our private sea today, visibility was around 10 m, not bad. It should gradually improve as the air temperature rises.
The water temperature at the bottom of Akaiwa has risen a little, to about 11℃.
Northern species are gradually increasing, and today we once again met the “atsumoriuo” (a tiny poacher) we found the other day.
It was in a completely different spot from last time, so it might be a different individual.
As tiny as ever, about 1.5 to 2 cm.
It's black and small, so it would be easy to mistake it for a bit of debris.
But its movements are cute, so be sure to see it while you can.
Elsewhere, the yagiuo have grown a little too.
We're also seeing dangouo (a tiny lumpsucker) as both babies and juveniles, so you can follow how they grow.
You can see their “angel's halo,” too.
For nudibranchs, we found hagoromo umiushi and kariya umiushi, which got us pretty excited.
The hagoromo umiushi were mating, too, so we got to witness a real nature scene.
A pair of hagoromo umiushi you'll want to catch at this time of year
Other nudibranchs are increasing as well.
Fish are waking up from their winter rest or becoming more active, so we're seeing many more of them.
Dive date: May 7 (Monday)
Dive sites: Kitakoura (Akaiwa, Nagate)
Weather: Clear and sunny
Wave height: 0.5 m
Current: Weak
Underwater: 11 to 12℃
Marine life seen: kobudai (Asian sheepshead wrasse), atsumoriuo (a tiny poacher), dangouo (a tiny lumpsucker), hoteiuo (smooth lumpsucker), hanatatsu (a seahorse), kijihata (red spotted grouper), kurosoi (black rockfish), damselfish, mebaru (Japanese rockfish; adults and juveniles), ubauo (a clingfish), gaji (a prickleback), anahaze (a sculpin), nijikajika (a sculpin), sabihaze (a goby), hoshinohaze (a goby), himeginpo (a triplefin, in breeding colors), kujime (a greenling), ainame (fat greenling), giant Pacific octopus (mizudako), spear squid (yariika) eggs, hagoromo umiushi (a nudibranch), tsugaru umiushi (a nudibranch), meribe umiushi (a nudibranch), inaba mino umiushi (a nudibranch), gerbera mino umiushi (a nudibranch), sakura mino umiushi (a nudibranch), emura mino umiushi (a nudibranch), akaera mino umiushi (a nudibranch), edaumiushi (a nudibranch), aoumiushi (a nudibranch), shiroumiushi (a nudibranch), umiichigo (a soft coral), futoyagi (a sea whip), and more
