Less than 12 hours back in Cornwall and I managed to slide into the rock pools at Castle Beach in Falmouth this Saturday to see what the seaweeds looked like. There was a noticeable difference with only a week ago. The speed at which seaweeds grow, and decline, still amazes me. I managed to take my best photo yet, of Red rags Dilsea carnosa (surrounded by a whole bunch of other species), above. I made so many photos that I will split them over two posts, with some general ‘seaweeds scapes’ here and with individual species in the next post. The Sea lettuce Ulva has been taking over parts of the pools, turning it a bright green. The reds of the Juicy whorl weed and Berry wart cress and pink of Harpoon weed are less bright, and the Red grape weed and Fern weeds are turning ‘fuzzy’. Still, the seaweeds are much bigger and cover most of the seabed and it looks very exuberant. 
The Wire weed and the Thong weed (or ‘spaghetti weed’) Himanthalia elongata have been rapidly growing; the latter consisted of ‘buttons’ in January and are now a meter long, so must grow around a centimetre a day. The fronds are covered in flakes (which must be reproductive structures) that come off when you swim through them, clouding the water and so ruining the shot if you do not take it straight away. The sun came out more in the last photos, hence the different light (I have edited most (not all) photos slightly using standard Windows Photos, mainly by decreasing the highlights). More photos very soon!
An Bollenessor 
Sorry I have forgotten your name. Dave Fenwick did tell me a while ago!I really enjoy seeing your pictures. These ones look like forests! I have tried many times to get pictures like this but they never turn out as good as yours. There is always a part of them out of focus! I use an Olympus TG-4 but I think I am usually in too much of a hurry and don’t take enough time to get a good focussed picture or perhaps I use the wrong setting! In time I hope to get better. In the meantime, please keep sharing. Best wishes Jan Whittington(Coastwise North Devon)
Hi Jan,
it is Michiel (or the more easy to pronounce Mick). Thanks for the compliment! I am by no means a good photographer, but I try to make up my lack of skill with enthusiasm. I found the switch from compact to mirrorless in a housing to make a massive difference in photo quality (but heard good things about the Olympus TG-4 too, especially the macro capability). One thing that helps as well is my wide angle wet lens, which enables you to get closer to the subject (less water between the subject and camera is important, especially in the UK). Overexposure is always tricky, so I compensate for that, otherwise I use default settings. I found the standard (new) Windows Photo software really good to tweak the photo’s a little and lift the ‘grey haze’. And most importantly I just take many photos and hope some of them turn out OK!
cheers, Mick