Dive Details

Location

Date

26 January, 2014

Time

1:39pm - 2:47pm

Details

There had been a strong southerly swell for the last couple of days and it was still running at around 2 metres. The water looked quite good from the lookout so we gave it a go. We jumped in at The Steps and the surface visibility was maybe 3 metres. We descended over the boulders to the kelp and the visibility might have been a bit better than 3 metres. It looked promising. In theory it should get better with the tide and with depth.

We stayed on the top of the reef and made our way towards The Leap. The visibility did not improve at all. In fact, the further we went and the longer we were in the worse it got. We kept losing each other. By the time we got to the approximate are of the Miamira magnifica nudibranch, the visibility was only 1-2 metres. It was difficult to determine where we were. I couldn't even be sure I could find the rock where the M. magnifica was. Nevertheless, I stumbled on it - more luck than anything else.

We headed to a little deeper water and tried to find Big Rock. The visibility dropped to below one metre. It was like being on a night dive with a very low intensity torch. We decided to turn around and head back. At this point we lost each other and didn't meet up again until we were out of the water.

I continued along the top of the reef and then headed down to the sand line near where the old M. magnifica was. There wasn't much to see and I eventually made it back to the kelp and boulders and did my safety stop, exiting at The Steps.

This was another case of incoming tide actually bringing murky water with it rather than clean water. Even though the dive site itself was protected from the southerly swell, the swell must have been stirring up the bottom further south and this was coming in with the tide.

Buddy

Sheree Papuni, Wayn Ladkin

Seas

Choppy

Visibility

1-3

Duration

68 minutes

Maximum depth

14.3 m

Average depth

10.5 m

Water temperature

20.2°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

4:36am

1.53m

Low

11:13am

0.56m

High

5:03pm

1.24m

Low

10:59pm

0.50m

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.

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 10.1 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 10.4 m.
 

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 10.3 m.
 

Nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 11.6 m.
 

Nudibranch, Miamira magnifica, with my finger for scale. 11.6 m.