Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 18 September 2016

Time

7:52am - 9:26am

Details

It was close to high tide and the low platform was mostly under water so I slid down the wall. Visibility in the surface looked great. We descended and swam at around 40° to the sand line. Visibility was at least 10 metres but again there was a lot of particulate matter in the water. The tidal current was also quite strong, much like Friday. Water temperature was around 16°. At the sand line we turned left and headed towards The Steps.

We saw our first weedy seadragon (PT2015062401) just before Seadragon Alley and then saw 3 more (PT2016073101, PT2016090201, PT2015051001) in Seadragon Alley. There was also a huge school of striped catfish out on the sand in Seadragon Alley.

We swam on past Big Rock and stopped at Hand Rock where I found and pointed out the two pygmy pipehorses (IL2016090201, IL2016090202). I waited for John and Kristen to catch up and showed them before moving on to "Lee", the tiny yellow painted angler. It was not in a good spot for photography. I waited for John and Kristen again but they must have past us higher up the reef.

Roger and I swam on to Diversity Rock. The male weedy seadragon (PT2015061401) with eggs was still just below and I found the male pygmy pipehorse (IL2016082101) on Diversity Rock but still couldn't find the female. I did a sweep of the area as far as the basket star. Roger left me here and I continued on alone.

I headed along the top of the reef to Di's Rock and spotted a weedy seadragon (PT2014123003) on the way. After Di's Rock I headed for the boulders and did my safety stop while swimming to Split Rock. The tide had only just turned and the outgoing current made swimming an effort. After my safety stop I swam to the exit and got out at The Steps.

Buddy

Roger Lee

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10 to 15 metres

Duration

93 minutes

Maximum depth

21.4 m

Average depth

14.3 m

Water temperature

15.9°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

2:59am

0.15m

High

9:08am

1.72m

Low

3:13pm

0.21m

High

9:28pm

1.79m