Dive Details

Location

Date

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Time

11:38am - 12:55pm

Details

There was a bit more wind chop on Botany Bay than yesterday and the surface water looked a little browner. The entry point was still relatively calm so we waded out in the little bay around the corner from the flagpoles. We had to swim a fair way out to try to avoid the murky surface layer but we had to bite the bullet and descend through it. Once we got to 5 metres it opened out and at 10 metres the visibility was over 10 metres.

We headed south east over the sponge garden and then up over the wall to the area where "Honey" and the other pot-bellied seahorses were. We looked around that area and then turned and headed back along the wall just above the sand line.

At the end of the wall we went up over the reef and looked for interesting critters, including anglers and pygmy pipehorses. We came to the sponge covered rocks on which I'd seen "Rosie" yesterday and after a bit of searching I found her hiding between a couple of sponges.

We continued on and I started to look for the two Nembrotha purpureolineata nudibranchs. I found them on the same rock they were yesterday and this time they were actually mating. At the same time Kim, who was over 15 metres away from me, found a tiny Paliolla cooki nudibranch. The visibility was so good she could signal to me to come and look at the nudibranch she'd found. I swam up, took a couple of photographs and then swam back to show the N. purpureolineata to Kim.

We swam around the reef some more until we hit the corner. Right on the corner I noticed a turtle, perhaps the same one from yesterday. I signal to Kim but she didn't hear me. The turtle swam off towards The Steps.

As we went around the corner the visibility dropped to around 5 metres. We swam along the base of the wall and the visibility was getting worse so we ascended to the top of the wall. The visibility here was only 2 to 3 metres.

I tried to find the gap in the kelp but the poor visibility made it impossible so I just headed south with Kim hanging on to me. We surfaced just out from the rocks and then had to stumble over the rocks to get out in front of the flagpoles.

Buddy

Kim Dinh

Seas

Wind chop

Visibility

2 to 15 metres

Duration

77 minutes

Maximum depth

13.2 m

Average depth

10.1 m

Water temperature

16.7°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

3:27am

1.63m

Low

10:01am

0.40m

High

4:22pm

1.54m

Low

10:21pm

0.59m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D300

Lens

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D

Housing

Ikelite 6812.3

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.

Blotched hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys aprinus. 9.5 m.
 

Nudibranch, Phyllodesmium poindimiei. 11.8 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 10.9 m.
 

Mating nudibranchs, Nembrotha purpureolineata. 12.1 m.
 

Nudibranch, Paliolla cooki. 10.6 m.
 

Mating nudibranchs, Nembrotha purpureolineata. 12.2 m.
 

Nudibranch, Phyllodesmium poindimiei. 12.6 m.
 

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 10.8 m.
 

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 10.7 m.