Access denied for user 'masasoft_mtornio'@'localhost' (using password: YES)Error loading character set utf8:

After the long Saturday my plan was to take it easy on Sunday. Plans quickly changed, however, when I got a text  in the morning saying that the spider crabs had been spotted at Rye. Huge number of spider crabs gather there each year for their annual winter moult. I quickly packed my (mostly dried) dive gear and headed down to the MUUC shed. Despite the short notice several people had showed up, it’s once in a year event after all.

When we got to Rye it was clear that the crabs were there. While the place was not exactly crowded there were still several groups of divers either heading in or getting out of water. We talked with some other divers and everyone said that there were tons of crabs at the bottom.

And indeed there were, thousands upon thousands of spider crabs all around the pier and quite a few on the pylons as well. In many areas the bottom was totally covered by the spider crabs and they were often stacked on top of each other. A truly amazing sight and well worth the visit. I spend bit over an hour underwater and took lots of photos and a couple of videos as well. Particularly touching was one lone spider crab with only three legs left, the poor thing still kept drudging on despite the handicap.

The crabs seemed to have driven away most of the usual life at the pier, there were no seahorses to be found. There was one juvenile shark though and one really adorable baby ray.  I was using my hood this time and it seemed to help with the leaking neck seal. After the dive we ate the remaining chocolate cake and drank the last bottle of Pommac. I also offered people Turkish Peppers, but they weren’t very popular this time either. A few brave souls tried them but the taste didn’t really agree with them. More goodies for me I suppose!