I arrived to Schelpenhoek Friday night, carried by the beautiful golden chariot that belongs to Jorn.

After a fun and comfortable evening getting used to the place, I had a really bad night of sleep, because it was so cold, and I have to admit I have never slept in a sleeping bag before. But it was okay!

Because the next morning, after a cold shower, I got to dive. I had high hopes and expectations for this dive. And boy were they met. As I got to experience the waters of the Grevelingen for the first time, it quickly became apparent that this was a place like no other. Full of colors, teeming with life, and surprisingly enough, very interactive. I had hoped to see fish on my dive. Little did I know these fish would be wanting to see me as well! I got to experience the curiosity of our two spotted gobies, Gobiusculus flavescens, first hand. I have many favourite fish, but after my dives in the Grevelingen I just have to add this fish to the list. Of all the life I encountered in Zeeland they really stood out to me. they have these wonderful blue flanks and fins, and they are extremely chill, free-swimming about the place (which, free swimming is quite unusual in the goby family, most gobies are benthic!).

Gobies aside (because I also saw some wonderful little black gobies), I encountered various sponges, bryozoa, crabs, lobsters, shrimp, macroalgae, mussels, tube worms, feather dusters, polychaete worms (the Gestippelde dieseltreinworm, which roughly translates to spotted dieseltrainworm, amazing name), ctenophora, tunicates, sea stars, and some divers.

Simply put anywhere I looked there was life. Absolutely breathtaking.

I do have to admit that the fun ends as soon as you leave the water. It was very very cold. but diving is fun! So we carried on.

In the end I dove three dives on this weekend, each colder than the next.We also received a very nice talk about the nature in the Grevelingen from Kasper, played plenty of card games, and ate delicious tosti’s.

Thanks to my dive buddies Johan, Karin and Thije. It was awesome :) And thanks to the Kookerwurmen, which provided us with meals from a culinary superlative. And thanks to bestuur, and everyone else, because I had a great time.