Dive Details
Location
Date
23 December, 2012
Time
7:29pm - 9:42pm
Details
There was a bit of wind in the harbour and it was difficult to tell what things would be like underwater. We entered at the beach and the visibility was pretty good in the shallows. The surge wasn't bad at all. We pottered around the shallows for a while and found a few octopus, seahorses and cuttlefish. I then found a predatory polychaete worm under a rock that would come out quite a long way if I was just using the red light on the focus light.
We then went along the reef to the area where the pleurobranchs normally come out. The surge got a bit stronger and the visibility decreased significantly. There were no pleurobranchs to be seen. We turned and headed back towards the beach.
Once on the sand near the strap seagrass (Posidonia australis) we looked closely for anything of interest. The first thing we found were southern calamari squid that didn't mind getting their photos taken. Next we found a small eastern frogfish. The highlight of the night was a small blue-lined octopus (Hapalochlaena fasctiata) which performed for the camera. The big problem was the mysid shrimp that were attracted to the lights which made taking photographs quite difficult. I still managed to get a couple of satisfactory photographs but I would have preferred something better.
Next we found a nudibranch that I have never seen before and then a southern dumpling squid. Both of these were difficult to photograph because of the mysids. We finally saw a pleurobranch.Closer to the beach we found a dwarf lionfish and a rock flathead. We exited at the beach after 2 hours and 13 minutes.
Buddy
Sheree Papuni, Daniela Stark
Seas
Slight
Visibility
3-5 metres
Duration
133 minutes
Maximum depth
5.9 m
Average depth
3.5 m
Water temperature
19.6°C
Site Map
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides at Sydney (Fort Denison) AEDT
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.
High
5:30am
1.48m
Low
12:06pm
0.63m
High
5:50pm
1.19m
Low
11:41pm
0.56m
Camera gear
Camera
Nikon D7000
Lens
Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D
Housing
Ikelite 6801.70
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.
Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 2.7 m.
Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 2.7 m.
Green moray eel, Gymnothorax prasinus. 2.2 m.
Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 1.7 m.
White's seahorse, Hippocampus whitei. 2.5 m.
White's seahorse, Hippocampus whitei. 2.2 m.
Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 2.4 m.
Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 2.2 m.
Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 2.3 m.
Predatory polychate worm, Eunice sp. 2.3 m.
Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 1.8 m.
Collector urchin, Tripneustes gratilla. 4.4 m.
Eastern frogfish, Batrachomoeus dubius. 5 m.
Eye of a stingaree. 5.5 m.
Southern calamari, squid, Sepioteuthis australis. 4.2 m.
Southern calamari squid, Sepioteuthis australis. 3.9 m.
Southern calamari squid, Sepioteuthis australis. 3.7 m.
Southern calamari squid, Sepioteuthis australis. 3.7 m.
Eastern frogfish, Batrachomoeus dubius. 3.7 m.
Blue-lined octopus, Hapalochlaena fasciata. 2.9 m.
Blue-lined octopus, Hapalochlaena fasciata. 3 m.
Nudibranch, Onchidoris sp. 4.1 m.
Southern dumpling squid, Euprymna tasmanica. 4.2 m.
Southern dumpling squid, Euprymna tasmanica. 4.2 m.
Hermit crab, Dardanus pedunculatus. 4.2 m.
Pleurobranch, Euselenops luniceps. 3.6 m.
Dwarf lionfish, Dendrochirus brachypterus. 2.4 m.
Rock flathead, Thysanophrys cirronasus. 2.2 m.