Dive Details

Location

Date

12 October, 2013

Time

9:43am - 11:13am

Details

Entered at The Steps and descended to the sand line. We initially went to the right towards The Leap to see the anglers. "Little Andrew" was in his usual spot. It took us a little longer to find "Big John" as he'd moved to the other side of his rock.

We then turned and headed towards The Monument. We saw a weedy seadragon while we were still in the kelp area. We drifted down to where "Honey" used to be but could not find her. We did find "Little Sebastien" in his usual location.

We then headed along the wall and then on to the low sponge covered rocks. At split rock, where we used to find seahorses, I found another of the yellow forms of the undescribed angler. I called it "Beverley". We looked for seahorses on split rock but could not find any.

We continued along carefully looking for anglers and seahorses. I discovered a tiny juvenile thorn-back cowfish. It was so small it was difficult to photograph. As I was trying to take photographs I noticed a half-banded seaperch taking an interest and then suddenly it shot out and engulfed the cowfish in its mouth. I felt a bit guilty for a moment and then the seaperch spat the cowfish back out and the cowfish went on its way, seemingly unaffected.

We continued along the wall looking for the seahorses we used to see there but could not find them. We then headed up the slope at the end of the wall to look for "Little George", the painted angler. We couldn't find him and not could we find the White's seahorse that had been there last week.

We then headed down to the large sponge and soft coral covered rocks and I found a Jorunna sp. nudibranch. We then headed into shallow water for a safety stop where I came across a colony of 6-10 eastern cleaner-clingfish. This was pretty much on the corner of The Monument.

We exited just on the flagpole side of the corner over the rocks.

Buddy

Sheree Papuni

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10-15 metres

Duration

89 minutes

Maximum depth

13.2 m

Average depth

10.4 m

Water temperature

19.0°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.

High

2:48am

1.23m

Low

8:30am

0.57m

High

3:03pm

1.59m

Low

9:58pm

0.39m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D7000

Lens

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D

Housing

Ikelite 6801.70

Lens port

Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41

Strobe

2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161

Photographs

Depth information, where present, indicates the depth of the camera when the photograph was taken and can be used to approximate the depth of the subject.

Tiny painted angler, Antennarius pictus, ("Little Andrew"). 12 m.
 

Undescribed angler ("Big John")11.8 m.
 

Undescribed angler ("Big John")11.7 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 10.1 m.
 

Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 11.7 m.
 

Tiny painted angler, Antennarius pictus, ("Little Sebastien"). 11.3 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 10 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 9.9 m.
 

Tiny painted angler, Antennarius pictus, ("Little Sebastien"). 11.3 m.
 

Nudibranch, Ceratosoma amoena. 11.5 m.
 

Undescribed angler ("Beverley"). 11.3 m.
 

Undescribed angler ("Beverley"). 11.2 m.
 

Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 10.6 m.
 

Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 10.5 m.
 

Tiny juvenile thorn-back cowfish, Lactoria fornasini. 10.9 m.
 

Tiny juvenile thorn-back cowfish, Lactoria fornasini. 10.8 m.
 

Nudibranch, Phyllodesmium poindimiei. 12.1 m.
 

Nudibranch, Jorunna sp. 12.8 m.
 

Nudibranch, Hypselodoris bennetti. 7.5 m.
 

Eastern cleaner-clingfish, Cochleoceps orientalis. 4.5 m.