Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 7 June 2015

Time

9:48am - 10:27am

Details

A dive to what is left of the wreck of the SS Hilda off Kurnell. The remnants of the wreck are spread out over the bottom in 21 to 27 metres of water. We were on the hunt for the stern with propeller, a couple of anchors, and some other pieces of the structure.

AJ and I went down the anchor line just after Joe and the others had come back. They were able to give us directions to find the pieces. AJ ran a line from the anchor line so we'd be able to find our way back. We found the stern fairly quickly with the propeller still intact.

We headed north-ish too look for the other pieces and found some hardware. While we were looking for the anchors we discovered a medium sized giant cuttlefish under a ledge. I headed off a bit further in that direction and AJ went the other way. I found some more of the structure but then swam back to AJ who was highlighting something on the bottom with his torch. I went in for a closer look and saw an octopus. An even closer look revealed she had eggs. This was the first time I'd seen an octopus with eggs. (After we got back to the boat I asked AJ if he'd notice the eggs with the octopus to which he replied, "What octopus?" "The one you pointed out to me" was my reply and AJ told me he was pointing out an admiralty style anchor which I completely missed.)

I was starting to get close to my non-decompression limit so I ascended a bit and we headed back to the anchor (our boat's anchor, that is). I only had 3 minutes of NDL left before I ascended the anchor line. I think next time I dive here will be on Nitrox. I did my safety stop on the anchor line.

Buddy

AJ

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10-15 metres

Duration

38 minutes

Maximum depth

26.0 m

Average depth

20.0 m

Water temperature

19.1°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

5:53am

0.37m

High

11:58am

1.42m

Low

5:34pm

0.61m

High

11:58pm

1.79m

Video

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.

Eastern red scorpionfish, Scorpaena jacksoniensis. 23.5 m.
 

Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus, with eggs. 25.6 m.
 

Sea fan. 25.3 m.