Why do I live here?

You may be reading this blog from the other side of the world. Well, the other side for me, because it is your side for you. You may be wondering why I live at this side of the world, when you live at that other side. Maybe because it’s beautiful? That’s a beautiful beach barely 40 minutes drive from my place. Actually the rocky mountain falling straight to the sea is one of the places where I had my first dives. The rocky cliff in the background is 1000’ (300m) high and, did I say it’s beautiful?. There are many other reasons why I like it here even if there are no coral reefs, water is freezing in the winter and fuel is outrageously expensive. I won’t go through all of them now, but basically it is a beautiful place where I can do fun things in company of good people.

New travel and action photos

I have added some new travel and topside photos to MagicSea.
You will find a mix of images taken around the world, from Australia to my local beach. There is a bit of everything: paragliding, mountain biking, water sports and some aerial shots too.
You can access the gallery following this link

Underwater Photography course

Last week I went to Galicia, Northwest Spain, to teach an underwater photography course. The conditions of the sea were perfect, flat calm, which is not common in this part of the world. Weather was sunny, but cold and water temperature was only 13 C. which  made the surface interval between dives very cold. However underwater I was pleased to see the amount of nudibranches and other colorful invertebrates that made good subjects for the student photographers.

The lessons started on Friday with a 2 hours lectures. On Saturday we dived in the morning and had a 6 hours lecture in the afternoon. On Sunday the schedule was similar. More information about these courses in http://www.cursosfotosub.com

 

Looking for Monkfish

I have been fascinated by Monkfish for a long time. Its out-of this-world look make this fish very special. A monkfish is basically a huge mouth on a huge head and a tiny body. It is a flat fish, very tasteful to eat and not that easy to find.

Few weeks ago a friend sent me an email to tell me that they have recently seen monkfish around a shipwreck which lays 36 meters (120 feet) below the surface, near Machichaco cape, not far from my place. I manage to organize a dive that same day and got my first photos of a monkfish:

Diving in the Gulf of Biscay

The coast near my home town, Bilbao (Spain), is where I learnt how to SCUBA dive in the early 90's. Before then I spent countless hours free diving and spear fishing the cold and dark waters of this area of the Atlantic Ocean called the Gulf of Biscay.
In the last few years my trips around the world have taken me to some of the most amazing dive destinations in the planet and I haven't had much time to go back and dive in my local waters.
Well, finally this summer I found a beautifull day to dive in Castro and get face to face with some old fishy friends.
This is one of them: