Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 9 April 2016

Time

9:28am - 11:25am

Details

I got in at the steps and headed straight out. I followed the reef down to around 10 metres. The tide was still coming in so there was a bit of current so I drifted with it along the reef. I then swam against the current back across the reef. I gradually made my way shallower.

Near the end of the dive I spotted a pygmy yellow-tail angelfish under some rocks in around 5 metres of water. I have been wanting to find one since my collecting days and it was thrilling to finally see one in the wild. I spent the rest of the dive trying to get a decent photograph. I exited at the steps.

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

116 minutes

Maximum depth

13.7 m

Average depth

7.0 m

Water temperature

20.0°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Port Stephens AEST

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

Low

3:36am

0.15m

High

9:48am

1.68m

Low

3:45pm

0.22m

High

10:10pm

1.90m

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.

Green moray, Gymnothorax prasinus. 9.4 m.
 

Nudibranch, Goniobranchus sp. 6.4 m.
 

Juvenile mimic filefish, Paraluteres prionurus. 6.4 m.
 

Juvenile mimic filefish, Paraluteres prionurus. 6.4 m.
 

Juvenile mimic filefish, Paraluteres prionurus. 6.5 m.
 

Juvenile mimic filefish, Paraluteres prionurus. 6.2 m.
 

Truncate coralfish, Chelmonops truncatus. 7.7 m.
 

Juvenile yellow boxfish, Ostracion cubicus. 7.3 m.
 

Juvenile yellow boxfish, Ostracion cubicus. 7.3 m.
 

Juvenile yellow boxfish, Ostracion cubicus. 7.3 m.
 

Green moray, Gymnothorax prasinus. 7.4 m.
 

Juvenile thread-fin butterflyfish, Chaetodon auriga. 6.2 m.
 

Male Sydney cardinalfish, Apogon limenus, with eggs in his mouth. 6.1 m.
 

Male Sydney cardinalfish, Apogon limenus, with eggs in his mouth. 6.1 m.
 

Male Sydney cardinalfish, Apogon limenus, with eggs in his mouth. 6.2 m.
 

Juvenile fairy basslet, Pseudanthias squamipinnis. 6.5 m.
 

Juvenile fairy basslet, Pseudanthias squamipinnis. 6.7 m.
 

Juvenile thread-fin butterflyfish, Chaetodon auriga. 6.2 m.
 

Juvenile yellow boxfish, Ostracion cubicus. 7.1 m.
 

Juvenile yellow boxfish, Ostracion cubicus. 7.1 m.
 

Juvenile yellow wrasse, Halichoeres chrysus. 7 m.
 

Juvenile yellow wrasse, Halichoeres chrysus. 6.9 m.
 

Pygmy yellow-tail angelfish, Centropyge flavicauda. 5.8 m.