El Hierro

El Hierro smallest and most western of the Canary Islands. After a bumpy ride in a zodiac across the rough atlantic on dives in clear water with great underwater landscape. Thanks to Günter and Jutta from Fan Diving Hierro. The week was great! The island is also a jewel above water.

Sand Eels — Fig. 1: A sandy patch on the ground full of sand eels. They are very shy. Once one gets too close they draw back into their tubes. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003

Grouper — Fig. 2: A big curious grouper which likes being photographed. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003

Trumpet Fish — Fig. 3: There are many trumpet fish around El Hierro. What I didn't know that time that they are also capable of changing their colour within fractions of a second. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003

Grouper — Fig. 4: Again the big curious grouper which likes being photographed. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003

Günter and Grouper — Fig. 5: Günter, our dive guide from Fan Diving Hierro is taking a picture of a big grouper. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003

Fire Worm — Fig. 6: A fire worm. As the name might suggest, it is not a good idea to touch them. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003

Marine Biologists — Fig. 7: Two marine biologists at work, digging in the sand, searching for little animals. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003

Moray Eel — Fig. 8: A moray eel with a fresh wound. It probably had a fight recently. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003

Tube-dwelling Anemone — Fig. 9: One of the few tube-dwelling anemones around El Hierre. Here a white coloured example. — Playa Herradura, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 6 September 2003

Breams with Trumpet Fish — Fig. 10: Breams with six dark stripes and lot of brown trumpet fish. — Playa Herradura, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 6 September 2003

Grouper — Fig. 11: Deep look into the throat of a big greenish grouper. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003

Moray Eel — Fig. 12: Close-up of a moray eel with the four nostril tubes. The dimples around the mouth could be sensors. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003 Nikon E990; Δt=1/125 s; f=23.4 mm; f/7.8; ISO 100; 7 September 2003 10:59:29

Moray Eel — Fig. 13: Another moray eel where one can see its teeth. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003 Nikon E990; Δt=1/125 s; f=23.4 mm; f/7.8; ISO 100; 7 September 2003 11:00:37

Arrow Crab — Fig. 14: An arrow crab (Stenorhynchus seticornis) is nibbling on something. — Cuevas de Diablo, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003

Devils Cave — Fig. 15: A diver in the devil's cave, one of the most beautiful dive spots around La Restinga. — Cuevas de Diablo, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003

Sea Star — Fig. 16: A red sea star on a rock covered with yellow sponges. — Cuevas de Diablo, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003

Flat crab with sea urchin — Fig. 17: A flat crab and in the background a black sea urchin. — Cuevas de Diablo, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003

Jellyfish with Plancton — Fig. 18: A jellyfish with a lot of plancton around. The placton appears as airy disk because the f-stop was very small. On the flagella one can see rainbow colours. — Cuevas de Diablo, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003

Underwater Landscape — Fig. 19: A pretty volcano underwater landscape with wall and clear water at the rock neede of El Bajon. In reality it looked much better. I didn't have a fisheye lens at that time. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Underwater Landscape — Fig. 20: A pretty volcano underwater landscape with wall and clear water at the rock neede of El Bajon. In reality it looked much better. I didn't have a fisheye lens at that time. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Underwater Landscape — Fig. 21: A pretty volcano underwater landscape with wall and clear water at the rock neede of El Bajon. In reality it looked much better. I didn't have a fisheye lens at that time. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Two-banded breams — Fig. 22: A swarm of two-banded breams (Diplodus vulgaris), escaping from the divers. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Moray Eel — Fig. 23: A big brown moray eel. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Underwater Landscape — Fig. 24: Underwater landscape with diver in the background. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Scorpionfish — Fig. 25: A little scorpionfish. Sometimes there were that many that one had to look carefully where to touch the rock. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Underwater Landscape — Fig. 26: Again the impressive underwater landscape of El Bajon, a rock needle in the ocean. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Grouper — Fig. 27: Cuckoo! Again a grouper who likes cameramen taking pictures. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Trumpet Fish — Fig. 28: A canyon full of trumpet fish. — Cuevas de Camerones, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Cave — Fig. 29: Lightbeams inside a cave close to the shore. — Cuevas de Camerones, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Algae — Fig. 30: Underwater landscape with a kind of fern like algae in the foreground. How are they called? — Cuevas de Camerones, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Canyon with Trumpet Fish — Fig. 31: A canyon full with trumpet fish. I've never seen that many trumpet fish on the same place. — Cuevas de Camerones, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Safety Stop — Fig. 32: Safety stop while ascending to the zodiac after a wonderful dive. — Cuevas de Camerones, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Günter with Octopus — Fig. 33: Günter our dive guide from Fan Diving Hierro is playing with an octopus during a night dive. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Octopus — Fig. 34: Looks a bit dazzled the poor octopus. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Wide-eyed Flounder — Fig. 35: Where is the fish? This is a well carmouflaged wide-eyed flounder (Bothus podas) on the sand. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Slipper Lobster — Fig. 36: A mediterranean slipper lobster (Scyllarides latus). — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Stenorhynchus seticornis — Fig. 37: An arrow crab (Stenorhynchus seticornis). — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Pufferfish — Fig. 38: Fugu wants to sleep. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Fish — Fig. 39: A sleeping fish. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Swimming Crab — Fig. 40: A swimming crab (Portunidae) a few seconds before it digged itself into the sand. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Sea Anemone — Fig. 41: At night the sea anemone are blooming all around in the harbour. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Ray Eye — Fig. 42: Who is looking at you out of the sand? Raymond the ray. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Sea Hare — Fig. 43: The spotted sea hare (Aplysia dactylomela) is a large nudibranch. There are also black ones but they were not good for taking pictures. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Octopus — Fig. 44: An octopus close to the harbour wall during night dive. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003

Underwater Landscape — Fig. 45: Underwater landscape with many fish. — Playa Herradura, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 9 September 2003

Parrot Fish — Fig. 46: A parrot fish nibbling on algae. — Nikon Coolpix 990, La Restinga, El Hierro, Canary Islands, September 2003

File Fish — Fig. 47: This is a file fish. — Nikon Coolpix 990, La Restinga, El Hierro, Canary Islands, September 2003

Group of groupers — Fig. 48: A swarm of groupers is passing by. — Nikon Coolpix 990, La Restinga, El Hierro, Canary Islands, September 2003

Arrow Crab — Fig. 49: Arrow crabs (Stenorhynchus seticornis) in an opening in the harbour wall. — Nikon Coolpix 990, La Restinga, El Hierro, Canary Islands, September 2003