Into the Forest
Submerge into the forest with me.
Escape for just a little while.
Immerse into the beauty. Feel the fragility?
Know your connection and reliance and . . . embrace the humility of it all.
Hoping these photos from today’s dive in a Bull Kelp forest provide you with all of that.
For more on the importance of kelp forests, please see the posts at this link.
Down we go.November sun streaming into the Bull Kelp forest and . . . trees above the surface.
©2018 Jackie Hildering.
Split Kelp, Striped Sunstar and female Kelp Greenling. See her (orange fish)?
©2018 Jackie Hildering
Blood Star, Crimson Anemone, Pink Soft Coral, Giant Plumose Anemones, etc!
©2018 Jackie Hildering
Striped Sunstar just below the surface.
©2018 Jackie Hildering
Crimson and Giant Plumose Anemones (with a school of rockfish in the background).
©2018 Jackie Hildering
Proliferating Anemones on the stipes of Split Kelp and on a species of coralline algae.
©2018 Jackie Hildering.
Lingcod in the forest.
©2018 Jackie Hildering.
Northern Kelp Crab climbing in the Bull Kelp Forest.
©2018 Jackie Hildering.
And . . . following my bubbles to the surface, sun refracting through the Bull Kelp. Back to the terrestrial part of our world so reliant on the Ocean’s algae for the production of oxygen, buffering of carbon dioxide and as fuel in marine food webs.
©2018 Jackie Hildering.
The Marine Detective 
6 Responses to “Into the Forest”
Beautiful pictures, so tranquil.
Really appreciate the feedback Emma.
More deepsea wonders! Am I right in thinking the corraline algae is the pink bobbles? Wonderful, rish, exquisite
Thanks
The are coralline algae species in almost every image here – most often right on the rock. For the one image where I reference it, the species is actually branched. All the species have a very distinct pink / purple colour. Hope this helps dear Yvonne.
Hi Jackie,
I really look forward to your posts!
It’s so amazing for those of us who don’t dive to see through your images what is hidden below the surface.
What kind of projects are you working on these days?
Cheers,
Charlene
Thank you so much Charlene for this kindness that motivates me big time. Lots of work right now on education and research for our Marine Education and Research Society. Lots of Humpback data processing and fund-raising related joy. 🙂