Dive Details

Location

Date

Wednesday 20 April 2016

Time

8:44am - 10:14am

Details

The tides weren't right for The Leap so Mike and I dived The Monument. There'd been some heavy rain so we wanted to get in as close to high tide as possible. The outgoing current was going to be strong so we got in on the corner to get us as close as possible to the slope where I'd previously seen the small red-fingered angler.

The visibility was less than 5 metres as we descended and I lost Mike almost immediately. I stuck to the dive plan hoping he'd catch up to me. I descended the middle wall and had a short swim to the slope against the outgoing current. At the slope I got lucky and found the angler almost straight away.

I then headed towards The Steps. I had not gone far when I found a large Nembrotha purpureolineata which I photographed. I swam on and met up with Mike. I took him back to the Nembrotha and while he was photographing it I discovered "Heather", the yellow pot-bellied seahorse. This was the same one Noel pointed out to me 2 months ago (when I found the angler). Mike then found a second N. purpureolineata between the first and the seahorse. While Mike was photographing the seahorse I found a third N. purpureolineata.

We swam on. On the main wall I found one male pot-bellied seahorse in the sea tulips. I could not find the other two, "Bia" and "Fred".

We swam on to the rock with the other seahorses. I found "" down low on the rock and then "" who was above him. I searched the whole area and was not able to find the females "Deborah" or "Charlie".

I headed back towards The Monument and lost Mike again. I didn't realise he had a 15L tank and could stay much longer than me. I exited at the bay around the corner from the flag poles after doing my safety stop.

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Slight surge

Visibility

3 to 5 metres

Duration

90 minutes

Maximum depth

13.2 m

Average depth

10.5 m

Water temperature

21.1°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

1:08am

0.55m

High

7:08am

1.54m

Low

1:17pm

0.49m

High

7:36pm

1.62m