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 .
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
Fig. 2: A big curious grouper which likes being photographed. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003
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
Fig. 4: Again the big curious grouper which likes being photographed. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003
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
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
Fig. 7: Two marine biologists at work, digging in the sand, searching for little animals. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003
Fig. 8: A moray eel with a fresh wound. It probably had a fight recently. — Desierto, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 5 September 2003
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
Fig. 10: Breams with six dark stripes and lot of brown trumpet fish. — Playa Herradura, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 6 September 2003
Fig. 11: Deep look into the throat of a big greenish grouper. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003
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
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
Fig. 14: An arrow crab (Stenorhynchus seticornis ) is nibbling on something. — Cuevas de Diablo, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003
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
Fig. 16: A red sea star on a rock covered with yellow sponges. — Cuevas de Diablo, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003
Fig. 17: A flat crab and in the background a black sea urchin. — Cuevas de Diablo, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 7 September 2003
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
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
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
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
Fig. 22: A swarm of two-banded breams (Diplodus vulgaris ), escaping from the divers. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
Fig. 23: A big brown moray eel. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
Fig. 24: Underwater landscape with diver in the background. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
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
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
Fig. 27: Cuckoo! Again a grouper who likes cameramen taking pictures. — El Bajon, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
Fig. 28: A canyon full of trumpet fish. — Cuevas de Camerones, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
Fig. 29: Lightbeams inside a cave close to the shore. — Cuevas de Camerones, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
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
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
Fig. 32: Safety stop while ascending to the zodiac after a wonderful dive. — Cuevas de Camerones, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
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
Fig. 34: Looks a bit dazzled the poor octopus. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
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
Fig. 36: A mediterranean slipper lobster (Scyllarides latus ). — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
Fig. 37: An arrow crab (Stenorhynchus seticornis ). — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
Fig. 38: Fugu wants to sleep. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
Fig. 39: A sleeping fish. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
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
Fig. 41: At night the sea anemone are blooming all around in the harbour. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
Fig. 42: Who is looking at you out of the sand? Raymond the ray. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
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
Fig. 44: An octopus close to the harbour wall during night dive. — La Restinga harbour, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 8 September 2003
Fig. 45: Underwater landscape with many fish. — Playa Herradura, El Hierro, Canary Islands, 9 September 2003
Fig. 46: A parrot fish nibbling on algae. — Nikon Coolpix 990, La Restinga, El Hierro, Canary Islands, September 2003
Fig. 47: This is a file fish. — Nikon Coolpix 990, La Restinga, El Hierro, Canary Islands, September 2003
Fig. 48: A swarm of groupers is passing by. — Nikon Coolpix 990, La Restinga, El Hierro, Canary Islands, September 2003
Fig. 49: Arrow crabs (Stenorhynchus seticornis ) in an opening in the harbour wall. — Nikon Coolpix 990, La Restinga, El Hierro, Canary Islands, September 2003