September south coast cruise (with pics)

[scubaman]

Thanks to you for your suggestion! Yep, agreed, let's keep that in mind for the time being.
Just FYI, knowing that you surely would appreciate a diving opportunity, you might be interested to come down here between mid of May and mid of Jun.
In fact, during that timeframe, there is the pretty unique chance to dive inside a "tonnara", which is the traditional way of fishing bluefin tunas, with a huge fixed net deployed during the seasonal passage of the beasts.
This gives the opportunity to see many (and by many, I mean HUNDREDS) of these impressively big fishes, in an almost completely wild situation, because even if they are "trapped" inside these very large nets, they can swim around freely - before the net is pulled up to catch them, that is.
BartW already experienced that, together with some of his diving mates, and btw it's not granted that this opportunity will still be there in the future (actually, I can't be 100% positive even for 2014), because this type of fishing is rather expensive, and it's becoming every year less economically justified, so they might well decide to stop it, rather sooneer than later.
But IF it will be possible (which is usually confirmed for sure around Mar/Apr), that alone is worth the trip.
There are other nice dives anyway, not to mention all the cruising grounds which you have seen in the pics and clips I posted...

I remember the discussion regarding this some time ago. That does sound like an amazing thing to experience. Let's get back to this in a few months.

 

[scubaman]

"At the risk of boring everyone with yet another picture post"..............



Love your work SM. Looks an amazing place to visit!

Btw, going back to the delivery trip of your new boat, did you launch her at a port near Hanko, the name rings a bell when I looked at the google map image?

Thank you AM,

Hanko was one of the pit stops we did along the way. It was very foggy then...

We started our trip from Turku http://goo.gl/maps/INqpC and made our way to the eastern border.

 

[MapisM]

I remember the discussion regarding this some time ago. That does sound like an amazing thing to experience. Let's get back to this in a few months.

Yep K, I did mention it already in the past.
This is one example, within the 2012 FDC thread, where I also linked a video you might wish to have a look at, if you already didn't.
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...-cruise-with-Blue-Angel&p=3496388#post3496388
Btw, myself and S made that dive already some years ago, and I didn't have the GoPro at that time, so I would definitely like to join you and try to make some nice clips (the one linked in the above post is not mine, I just found it on youtube).
Cheers for now, let's rediscuss this around Mar/Apr.

 

[scubaman]

Yep K, I did mention it already in the past.
This is one example, within the 2012 FDC thread, where I also linked a video you might wish to have a look at, if you already didn't.
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...-cruise-with-Blue-Angel&p=3496388#post3496388
Btw, myself and S made that dive already some years ago, and I didn't have the GoPro at that time, so I would definitely like to join you and try to make some nice clips (the one linked in the above post is not mine, I just found it on youtube).
Cheers for now, let's rediscuss this around Mar/Apr.

Stunning!

 

[AndieMac]

Thank you AM,

Hanko was one of the pit stops we did along the way. It was very foggy then...

We started our trip from Turku http://goo.gl/maps/INqpC and made our way to the eastern border.

I thought Turku was also mentioned, but when I briefly looked at the map yesterday the location looked too far inland to be a sea port.......but then zooming in now I can see the channel in. There appears to be multitudes of small islands and rocks around the coastline.

 

[scubaman]

I thought Turku was also mentioned, but when I briefly looked at the map yesterday the location looked too far inland to be a sea port.......but then zooming in now I can see the channel in. There appears to be multitudes of small islands and rocks around the coastline.

According to Wikipedia the Archipelago Sea, the sea area outside Turku, consists of 40.000 islands (every rock counted, I suppose) of which only 257 are larger than one square kilometer. Looking forward to exploring them next summer...

 

[alt]

Wow, just WOW!!

 

[MapisM]

40.000 islands

Blimey, that's mind blowing.
I spent 10 years cruising the Croatian archipelago, and even if I surely knew most of it, I couldn't swear to have seen all of the 1200 or so islands.
It will take you a bit more than one summer to see 40k of them, I'm afraid.....

 

[Pinnacle]

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...-cruise-with-Blue-Angel&p=3496388#post3496388

That is one fantastic vid!

Thanks for reminding me as I had forgotten you had posted the link last year.

 

[MapisM]

Yep P, the video is nice, but as you can easily guess it's nowhere near the feeling of being actually surrounded by those animals (whose weight can reach up to half a ton, go figure!).
Of course you're also welcome to come and give that a try.

Coming to think of it, we might as well organize a sort of early season "FDC appetizer".
Unfortunately, my boat can offer neither as many cabins nor the diving facilities of BA, but there's a good choice of hotels and houses for rent in the island, and a diving center which can supply tanks etc.
And of course, my boat could still be used for some day trips in the area, for some "boating but not diving" days.
If anyone might be interested I can open a thread and see how it develops.
Just a thought.