Dive Details

Location

Logged dive number

1745

Date

Thursday 23 January 2020

Time

8:31am - 10:13am

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Strong current and surge an times

Visibility

2 to 4 metres

Duration

102 minutes

Surface interval

 4 days 17:31 (days hh:mm)

Maximum depth

13.8 m

Average depth

11.1 m

Water temperature

18.4°C
                                       

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

1:33am

0.51m

High

8:12am

1.79m

Low

2:58pm

0.36m

High

8:48pm

1.30m

Details

Today I dived The Monument with Mike. We had planned to dive at The Steps but the swell was too large for a safe entry and/or exit. It would be after high tide by the time we'd be getting in the water so we decided on a clockwise run.

We got in through the channel in front of the flagpoles and swam out on the surface. There were a couple of small boats of fisherman so we had to avoid them. I didn't correctly line up the flagpole with the obelisk and so we ended up swimming too far out.

When we were ready we descended to the sand. We were at least 20 metres off the wall and had to swim south to hit the wall. We ended up in the area where "Naomi", the yellow White's Seahorse. The visibility was only around 2 metres and there was a bit of current. The water temperature was between 18 and 19°C. There was even some surge. I looked around for "Naomi" but couldn't find her.

We headed along the base of the wall towards the Pot-bellied Seahorses. I got to the area first and started looking in the orange finger sponges. I spotted a dwarf lionfish in one of the sponges.

Mike caught up to me and I indicated this was the area of the seahorses as he'd not seen them before. I continued my search for the seahorses looking on all the sponges and checking out the rock with the white honeycomb sponge and orange finger sponge. After 10 minutes of searching I started to look in the kelp and found "Gracie" in the kelp like last time. I moved the kelp to a rock and she swam across to the rock. Mike came over and started taking photographs. When he'd finished, I took some photographs and then continued my search. I eventually found "Jose" on the side of the "main" rock closest the wall. I took some photographs and pointed him out to Mike. I searched for a few more minutes for "Tim" but couldn't find him so we continued along the wall.

I got to the shelf at the end of the wall first. I looked around for the orange Red-fingered Anglerfish I have seen in that area. I spotted one on the rock in front of the shelf. I'm not sure if it is the same one. I took some photographs and then Mike swam up. I pointed it out to him and then ascended slightly to get out of his way. The current, which had increased significantly, grabbed me and through me off balance. I managed to right myself and dropped down to the next rock with a female pygmy pipehorse (IL2020012301) right in front of me. I looked around for a male but couldn't find one. I took some photographs and waited for Mike who was photographing the anglerfish.

Mike also had problems with the current but spotted a large Eastern Frogfish on the sand between the rock with the anglerfish and the rock with the pygmy. We both took photographs of the frogfish and then I pointed out the pygmy to Mike.

I waited for Mike (who was having camera issues) to photograph the pygmy pipehorse before we swam over the corner and dropped down to near the sand. I went on ahead along the base of the NW-SE Wall. The current had all but stopped and the visibility had improved to ariund 4 metres.I looked for Weedy Seadragons as I swam but saw none.

I looked on the three rocks just off the wall for the grey Red-fingered Anglerfish I'd seen on Saturday but could not find it on any of the rocks.

I swam over to The Castle in Valley of the Pygmies. I was expecting to see the two white pygmy pipehorses I'd seen on Saturday but they were not there - at least not where I'd seen them. I looked for the white female where I'd seen her last Saturday and I couldn't see her either. While I was looking for the female I noticed a whiteish male. I don't know if it is the same male I'd seen with the white female and he's changed colour or a new male. I looked around the whole rock but could not find any other pygmies. Mike swam up and I showed him the whiteish male. He was still having camera problems.

We headed along the reef towards The Steps. My spotted a huge Aplysia sp. sea hare. It was too large to attempt to photograph.

I looked on the rock where the Dendronephthya colony had been for the pair of pygmies but could not find either of them. I also looked around for the grey Red-fingered Anglerfish but couldn't find it either.

We continued to Split Rock. Just before Split Rock I looked for the orange Red-fingered Anglerfish I'd seen on the last couple of dives next to the orange encrusting sponge. It wasn't there but then I spotted it on the other side of the rock. I took some photographs and pointed it out to Mike.

I looked in the crevice above Split Rock for the pair of Upside-down Pipefish. There were fewer mysids but I was not able to see the pipefish.

We continued on past the slope below Seahorse Rock. Mike indicated he was going to go but I urged him to stay a little longer as there has been an orange Red-fingered Anglerfish in the area. We looked for it but it wasn't on the rock it had been on for the last two Saturdays. Mike left and immediately I spotted an orange Red-fingered Anglerfish.

I continued to the sand area above the Deep Wall and looked for anglerfishes but found nothing. I dropped over the wall and swam along the wall to Pygmy Playground. I looked along the shelf but found no pygmies. I then looked on the square rock and spotted the white male but found no other pygmies.

I headed along the top of the wall and then ascended to 5 metres doing my safety spot while swimming to the platform out from the protected area. I swam along in front of the platform to the exit point. I finished my safety stop and ascended to the platform. It was not too rough and I was able to swim backwards over the platform until it was shallow enough to remove my fins. I waded out and walked back to the ute.