Dive Details

Location

Date

Wednesday 9 August 2017

Time

9:04am - 10:42am

Details

It had been rough for the last few days so we weren't expecting much in way of visibility and surge. It was also close to high tide and we expected what conditions we had would probably deteriorate after high tide.

We got in in the partially protected area about one third of the way to The Steps. We waded out to the edge of the shelf before descending and then swam to the sand line. We were very pleasantly surprised with the visibility which was between 5 and 10 metres. The water temperature was just over 17°C and there was very little surge. We turned left and headed towards The Monument.

We swam along the sand line to Block Rock. While looking in the gap between Block Rock and the sponge covered rock next to it I spotted a tiny nudibranch, possibly Gymnodoris sp.. Just past the sponge covered rock I spotted the little orange painted angler in its usual spot.

We continued on to the wall. I found the black painted angler in the white honeycomb sponge at the north-western end of the rock the angler has been for some time. We followed the wall and then up over the wall to the other orange painted angler which I found. I found both the male and the female pygmy pipehorse on the adjacent rock.

I swam down to Carijoa Rock and found the pink male pygmy pipehorse. I couldn't find the cryptic female. At this point the temperature started to drop and was closer to 16°C. We swam up to Slope Rock and I found the red male pygmy that Dama found last Saturday. Mike then found another red male pygmy to the south-east. I think it may be the one that I originally found on Slope Rock. I went back to Slope Rock and found a cryptic female pygmy.

We swam up to Seahorse Rock. Here the temperature dropped to around 13°C. This was around an hour after high tide and the water from in the bay was now hitting us. The visibility dropped, too. I had a quick look for the seahorses before heading out onto the sand to look for the little dragonfish. I found it and pointed it out to Mike before going back to Seahorse Rock to look for the seahorses. I found the male and then went back to the sand to shoot some video of the little dragonfish.

We went up to the egg cowries in the Capnella colonies. We found both of them. From here we headed for the exit doing a short safety stop along the way. We exited at the bay to the south-east of the point.

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

97 minutes

Maximum depth

12.6 m

Average depth

10.0 m

Water temperature

13.1°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

3:20am

0.33m

High

9:18am

1.43m

Low

3:00pm

0.47m

High

9:25pm

1.80m