Dive Details
Location
Date
Tuesday 12 May 2015
Time
11:59am - 1:26pm
Details
This was my first dive at The Monument this year and my first dive here under decent conditions since August 2014. There was a moderate southerly swell but strong north-westerly winds which made the water surface look quite choppy. The surface water was still a bit brown from all the recent rain. Nevertheless, I was confident conditions underwater would be pretty good.
I waded out in the little bay around the corner from the flagpoles and descended to the sponge garden. The visibility was very good... at least 10 metres. I headed towards The Steps in from the sand line looking for seahorses and pygmy pipehorses.
I got to the area where we used to see "Honey" and other pot-bellied seahorses hoping there might be one around but found none. The visibility here was around 15 metres. I turned and headed back slowly to The Monument along and just up from the sand line. I zigzagged my way over the reef keeping my eye out for seahorses, anglers, nudibranchs and pygmy pipehorses. The visibility dropped to around 10 metres but it was still very good.
When I got to one of the sponge covered rocks where we had previously seen pot-bellied seahorses and was excited to see a yellow female pot-bellied seahorse. On closer inspection I was confident it was "Rosie". She was last seen near The Leap not long before the "super storm" hit Sydney. It appears she has been washed down to The Monument. She's travelled 600 to 800 metres - a pretty mean feat!
I continued on hoping to see the orange form red-fingered angler we sometimes see in the area but I couldn't spot it. I did find two large Nembrotha purpureolineata nudibranchs that had just been mating.
I swam close to the wall and checked the soft coral covered rocks for a seahorse that had been spotted by Sean Irvine on Saturday but I could not find it.
I went to the corner and then around the corner and followed the wall along. The visibility dropped to around 5 metres. I ascended to the top of the wall and as I was swimming along I disturbed a turtle which swam off quite quickly.
I found the gap in the kelp and swam south along the shallow wall to the beach were I exited.
Seas
Wind chop
Visibility
5-15 metres
Duration
87 minutes
Maximum depth
13.6 m
Average depth
10.2 m
Water temperature
17.8°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides
High
2:17am
1.64m
Low
9:04am
0.44m
High
3:20pm
1.43m
Low
9:09pm
0.66m
Camera gear
Camera
Nikon D300
Lens
Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D
Housing
Ikelite 6812.3
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.
Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 11.4 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 11.3 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 11.4 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 11.4 m.
Nudibranchs, Nembrotha purpureolineata. 12.3 m.
Günther's butterflyfish, Chaetodon guentheri. 12.5 m.
Nudibranch, Phyllodesmium poindimiei. 12.6 m.
Blotched hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys aprinus. 12.2 m.
Eastern frogfish, Batrachomoeus dubius. 7 m.