Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 12 October 2014

Time

8:34am - 9:36am

Details

The wall was so good yesterday we decided to do it again today. After jumping in we swam south east along the surface parallel to the shore for 20-30 metres. We then descended and headed at around 70° until we hit the wall. We ended up a further along the wall than yesterday but after turning north west it was a very pleasant drift with the current along the wall. Visibility here was around 10 metres.

Sheree found a interesting flatworm on a sponge (although at the time we weren't sure if it was a flatworm or a sea slug). A little bit further along we found a juvenile giant cuttlefish hanging out in a cave. Hopefully, we'll see this cuttlefish on subsequent dives along the wall.

At the end of the wall, Sheree pointed out a large numb ray under one of the boulders. We then checked out a low rock and found a gorgeous yellow juvenile female pot-bellied seahorse. We will call her "Shirley". She is smaller than "Lucy" was when we first saw her. Hopefully, we'll see her again. A little further along we came to the pygmy pipehorse that Sheree found last week.

We continued on towards The Steps and did not see any weedy seadragons before Seahorse Rock. We found "Rosie" on her usual rock behind Seahorse Rock but there were no other seahorses. On the way to "Southern Cross", Sheree pointed out a large octopus that was displaying and a large moray eel.

We found both "Southern Cross" and "Pierre" on their usual rock. We continued on looking for weedy seadragons but only found the same one I had seen yesterday. It is off that we saw 9 last weekend and only one this weekend.

We were both cold and so we headed up the reef and made a bee line for the shallows and a safety stop before exiting at The Steps.

Buddy

Sheree Papuni

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10-15 metres

Duration

62 minutes

Maximum depth

21.4 m

Average depth

15.8 m

Water temperature

15.7°C

                                       

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides

Low

5:25am

0.42m

High

11:48am

1.72m

Low

6:22pm

0.35m

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. 20 m.
 

Flatworm, Thysanozoon sp. 19 m.
 

Sea star, Petricia vernicina. 20.3 m.
 

Juvenile giant cuttlefish, Sepia apama. 20.4 m.
 

Juvenile female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Shirley"). 21 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 21.2 m.
 

Juvenile female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Shirley"). 20.9 m.
 

Juvenile female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Shirley"). 20.9 m.
 

Nudibranch, Jorunna sp. 21.3 m.
 

Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 21.2 m.
 

Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 21.3 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 19.9 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 19.9 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 20.5 m.
 

Green morary, Gymnothorax prasinus. 19.3 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Southern Cross"). 18.2 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Pierre"). 17.6 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 16.6 m.
 

Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 12.4 m.
 

Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 12.8 m.