Today's dive in Majorca

Still wonderful Majorca nearby Can Pastilla, had I had my car I would go somewhere else huh...

Less tourist and more sea-animals, guess they are trying to get back and repopulate after such a summer full of people fishing for sport.

It was good to catch a shy and big octopus... tomorrow I'll annoy him/her a little more...

... and plenty of small jellyfishes, lucky me actually low-sea-temperature won't allow me to dive without wetsuit =)

Winter sea preview at Mallorca

Some general views in the winter sea at Mallorca by Cala Estancia. Freezing water to only dare diving by wetsuit. Super-duper clear water and above all no tourists!

The prehistoric shell!!! Huuuuuge!

How to repair your wetsuit

First off you need a strong glue, Neoprene Cement will do it.

1. Apply this glue to the inner parts of the scratches on your wet suit.

2. Wait 5 minutes to let it dry a little bit.

3. Apply again 'till you fill the scratch doing so. You can consider to sew it using dental floss to get a stronger  repair.

4. Let it all dry for an extra 20 to 50 minutes depending on the glue.

That's it! Just wait a couple of hours before swimming again.

In order to do all this, your wet suit need to be completely dry. 

Scorpionfish

Scorpaena scrofa

Most species of these are dwelling on the bottom and feed on crustaceans and smaller fishes.

General characteristics include a compressed body and ridges/spines on the head.

Spines all have venom glands at their bases.

Body adaptation during free-diving

When you dive you body will eventually adapt to the new more pressurized environment:

1 - A drop in the heart rate (...see reflex bradycardia)

2 - Your blood will have more red cells carrying oxygen (...see splenic contraction)

3 - Your blood vessels will shrink, leading away oxygen that benefits vital organs (...see vasoconstriction)

4 - Blood plasma will fill up blood vessels in the lungs and reduce residual volume. Without this adaptation, the human lung would shrink and wrap into its walls, causing permanent damage, at depths greater than 30 meters.

Free-diving risks

Shallow water blackout

With increasing depths the oxygen pressure in the lungs will raise and will lead to the blood carrying more oxygen. When ascending to the surface the O2 pressure drops dramatically and when the pressure in the lungs is lower than the blood pressure, the oxygen will pass from the blood into the lungs leaving more affected area without oxygen, such as the brain.

This will get you unconscious and to start your descend in the ocean depending on the weights.

Do free-diving always with a buddy.

Sinus squeeze

With infections or any cold, you have difficulty in pressurizing. A sinus squeeze and eardrum explosion may occur leading to pain and maybe some damage.

                                       

Estellencs underwater

Estellencs is found after the Tramontana mountains. 

You can meet with a great variety of wilderness depending on the season... 

Pablo & Alberto trying to spot and fish some big fish.

Cueva Verde

La Cueva Verde can be found just south passing by S'Arenal, very clear water about 2 m depth. Many nuts use to jump from the ''rock'' above the cave, about 7 m jump and quite risky as well, given the shallow water.

The cave's name comes from its waters colour: verde, spanish word for green.

Tramontana lakes and mounts in Majorica

Last day I spent with my brothers in Mallorca, we went to visit around the Tramontana mounts just by car as we felt too lazy to get off and walk a little bit. 

We went from Embalse de Cuber Lake to Embassament de Gorg Blau Lake going around Puig Major Mount, here you'll find many paths to hike all around the mountains and beautiful views... Cami de Nou de l'Otre is one of these paths going by the lakes.

If you are feeling lucky enough, depending on the season you can find some wildlife such as red deer, roe deer, wolf, chamois, fallow deer, wild goat, wild boar, spanish ibex, barbary ibex and mouflon.

Badia Blava!

Fuggite sciocchi!

Still showing some footage of the underworld... This time we have been lucky enough to meet some stingrays. 

Badia Blava is just after the very popular german area S'Arenal, where every year thousands and thousands of germans go to party at Megapark. It has got a very suggestive sea-view and wooden steps to get over there. Paths were used once by smuggler as it is quite a hidden area.

Free-diving in Estellencs

Estellencs can be found after Tramontana mounts and is a really nice place to snorkel around, it goes very deep soon and many different fishes dwell those waters such as groupers and eels at about 10 m depth.

Always snorkel with a buddy for safety.

My brothers and I and Estellencs at twilight.

Curious stuff on octopuses

Curious octopus...

- Even a 22 Kg octopus can squeeze through a 5 cm hole.

-Females can wait for months before fertilizing sperm.

-Octopuses'body is 90% muscles.

-North Pacific Giant Octopus can lay 90000 eggs and it's cannibal.

-They easily lose one arm, but it will grow back.

-All species are venomous, most of these don't hurt humans.

-They have 3 hearts, 9 brains and... blue blood!

Octopus

The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc with no internal skeleton and just one beak at the centre of the 4 pairs of arms. They defend themselves using camouflage and sprouting ink that can be more or less venomous. Octopuses are very intelligent, proved by many mazes and problems sorted out by them in experiments. Their memory can store both short and long term items. Having a complex neurological system whose neurons extend even in their arms, some octopuses can mimic other species behaviours. Their eyes along with their sense of touch are excellent and their movements are either crawling or swimming by jet propulsion. In UK, octopus is considered an honorable vertebrate and in some countries you cannot operate surgery on it wihout anaesthetic.

                                         

Jellyfish and Arnolds in Cala Estancia

Day out in Cala Estancia

Medusa's head from the deepest sea...

Cuttlefish!

Cuttlefish are molluscs with an internal shell - cuttlebone, eight arms and two tentacles furnished with denticulated suckers with which they capture their prey. 

They are among the most intelligent invertebrates with a very big brain-to-body size ratio.

They eat small fishes, molluscs, octopuses and other cuttlefishes as well.

Their skin made them gain the name 'chameleon of the sea' to camouflage and their eyes have no blind spot as the optical nerve is just behind the retina. 

Curious thing to know is that they have three hearts.

In order to defend themselves, they spit ink, which may be of no harms to very deadly and lethal.

Spearfishing and Ike Jime

... is an ancient method of fishing with sharpened sticks used for millennia in the whole world.

Nowadays spearfishing uses elastic powered spearguns and slings or compressed air pneumatic guns.

It is good to know that in certain countries it is illegal to spearfish using scuba equipment.

In 2007, the Australian Bluewater freediving Classic was the first spearfishing tournament to be accredited as a sport and was awarded 4 out of 5 stars based on environmental, social, safety and economic factors.

Spearfishing is blamed for helping to put in the brink of extinction some species such as atlantic goliath grouper, giant sea bass and others, though.

Expert fishermen bring a knife to practice the Japanes Ike Jime. Ike Jime is made inserting a spike into the hind brain of the fish. This causes  immediate death - less pain, bleeding. The blood in the fish body retracts immediately in the guts leaving the fish more tasty and flavoured. 

How to hold your breath longer: how to improve it!

Quit smoking!


Your lungs will realease CO2 easily and take more O2.

Lose weight and be on a healthy diet!

Otherwise that weight will take the oxygen you breath for nothing. Don't eat many fries and jellies, too many fats and sugars.


Splash cold water on your face!

It's been observed this triggers bradycardia or the slowing of heart rate.

Do exercises to increase your lung capacity!

Although you can't increase the size of your lungs, you can improve the amount of air taken in.
Always exhale all your old air out before breathing again.

Before holding your breath, inhale and exhale slowly from deep within your diaphragm! 

You need to get rid of low quality air. Inhale during 5 seconds and exhale for another 5 seconds, repeat this for 2 minutes. You need to exhale every last drop of air.

Take a massive gulp of air as long as possible! 

Fill about 85% of your lung capacity, you need some room in your lungs to chill out.
Be sure you have someone nearby in case you faint...

Relax every muscle in your body!

And try to slow your heart rate by meditating... do this as long as possible.

Exhale slowly!

Don't exhale all at once, exhale initially just a 20%, then inhale again so O2 gets to your critical areas faster, and then exhale completely and inhale again.

Repeat all this 3/4 times per session and don't do more than 2 sessions per day!

Your body, mind and lungs may be affected otherwise.

AND GOOD DIVING!

Estellencs

At the heart of Tramuntana mountain range lies the village of Estellencs. A rugged and rough path from the town leads you to the crystal clear water and rocky shores of this pristine area.

After one hour trip we - Pablo, Alberto and I - finally reached Estellencs to do some spearfishing... no many fishes though, just a starfish, gilt-head sea breams, some tiny groupers. The underwater view was amazing and we had some time to practise free-diving over 10 metres depth. Although the day was not magnificent (very cloudy), the sea was calm and many flocks of small fishes were dwelling in the shallow waters.

As the sea is quite warm in summer and beginning of autumn, fishes prefer colder hence deeper water. Best period to do some free-diving and spearfishing is winter and spring.