easy to explore: there’ s a bathroom with a black-and-white tiled floor, a sink that has fallen from its brackets and plenty of wide swim-throughs. We descended gradually along the sloping seabed, our scooters pulling us into the darkness. The journey took us through a smoky layer in the water, then the water became colder and clearer. Towards the stern there are plenty of intact portholes, glass still in place. Then you reach the stern itself, where a huge boulder is wedged between the prop and the rudder. The viz is usually excellent here.
At the deepest point of the dive we turned around and headed onto the port side, the ship’ s seemingly flat plates extending towards the light. Then our torches picked out something alien hanging in the distance, a surreal object that seemed to be hanging in the water. Cautiously, we edged forward, our minds racing. Was there enough helium in the mix – had our minds conjured some phantom? As it happened we had chanced on a giant squid egg sack, and as reality kicked in we took our photos and video, then departed for the beckoning
A deep water helmet jelly, Periphylla periphylla
decompression stops off the bow, then onto the fjord wall.
We stayed overnight in Vadheim and drove up towards Bramanger the next day to our accommodation, a cabin by the shores of Midtgulen Fjord, overlooking
Bathtub on the Oldenburg
Investigating a vacated giant squid egg sack
Props on the Oldenburg
Another view of the squid sack
Deck structures on the Oldenburg
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