Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 3 October 2015

Time

12:54pm - 2:09pm

Details

The second dive of the day, this time at The Monument. We got in at the little bay around the corner from the flag poles and as we descended we came across a stingray sitting on the bottom. It moved off slowly so we all got a chance to video it. Before we hit the reef we swam into a school of salmon. I don't know if it was the same school I'd seen on the previous dive but it looked just as big with 500 plus fish in it.

We headed down to the reef and turned left. We followed the reef along. Mic and Mark saw a turtle that I missed (but that's OK, we saw another later in the dive). We followed the reef to the corner and near the corner, Mark pointed out a weedy seadragon. It has been a few years since I last saw a weedy seadragon at The Monument. I have seen a few between The Steps and The Monument but not all the way there.

At the corner we saw another turtle and we would see the same turtle again two more times. We also saw two or three lion's mane jellyfish swimming by. After getting the corner we headed along the wall for some time before ascending and following the top of the wall before turning in over the kelp and heading for the beach. We did our safety stop along the way and exited at the rocks to the east of the beach.

Buddy

Mic Glushankov, Mark Rossbridge

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

74 minutes

Maximum depth

13.7 m

Average depth

9.5 m

Water temperature

17.0°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

5:48am

0.46m

High

12:13pm

1.68m

Low

6:56pm

0.40m

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.

Mating nudibranchs, Nembrotha purpureolineata. 10.5 m.
 

Mating nudibranchs, Neodoris chrysoderma. 12.1 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12.9 m.
 

Eggs on the tail of male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 13.2 m.
 

Nudibranch, Phyllodesmium poindimiei. 12.7 m.
 

Sea hare, Elysia ornata. 12.8 m.
 

Green moray, Gymnothorax prasinus. 6.9 m.
 

Flathead, Platycephalus sp. 2.6 m.