Dive Details

Location

Date

6 September 2014

Time

2:21pm - 3:23pm

Details

With the rain, rough weather and tides it was going to be very difficult for me to find somewhere to dive this weekend. The Leap was way too rough and I didn't even bother to look at The Steps. It was even too rough to get in around the corner at The Monument. It was however flat straight out from the flag poles at The Monument so that's where I got in.

On entry the visibility was probably around 3 metres and so better that I might have expected. I swam due north over the kelp until I reached the wall. I was amazed how straight I could swim with the kelp for reference and I had no trouble keeping to the compass bearing.

At the wall I dropped down and turned right following the wall along. Here the visibility dropped to 1-2 metres but I could still navigate along the wall. I did see a cuttlefish along the way. I followed the wall until it ended and then followed the sand line around the corner. At times the visibility dropped to nearly zero but I was still able to have a rough idea of where I was.

I swam past the two large soft coral covered boulders where I saw a large reaper cuttlefish and then the base of the wall where we saw seahorses last year. I believe I made it all the way to the rock where I saw "Oliver", the orange form undescribed angler, last time at The Monument but I was not able to find it this time. I turned and headed back the way I had come.

It was a bit easier going on the way back because of the incoming tidal current although after coming back around the corner I was some ways off the wall and the visibility dropped to nearly zero and I had to use the compass to swim due south to find the wall. As I could only see sand I had a much harder time keeping in the compass bearing and I kept veering to the right. At one point 3 squid, probably luminous bay squid, swam under me. Eventually, I found the wall, with my head (lucky I was wearing a hood), ascended to the top of the wall where the visibility was back to around 3 metres and followed it along to the kelp.

I followed the kelp along until I could find the break which marks the wall that heads to the beach. I eventually found the gap and headed south to the beach, where I exited.

Not one of my best dives but still good navigation practice.

Seas

Rough

Visibility

0-3 metres

Duration

61 minutes

Maximum depth

13.8 m

Average depth

9.0 m

Water temperature

15.2°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

5:33am

1.36m

Low

11:18am

0.41m

High

5:49pm

1.80m

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.

Closeup of a sea star, Plectaster decanus. 12.5 m.
 

Closeup of a sea star, Pentagonaster duebeni. 12.5 m.