Dive Details

Location

Date

Monday 16 May 2016

Time

11:45am - 1:30pm

Details

Conditions from the surface looked fantastic. There was hardly any swell and the water looked clear. We jumped in from the low platform and visibility looked to be over 10 metres. We descended and headed towards the sand line at around 30°. The deeper we got, the worse the visibility became and by the time we hit the sand line (near the rock I last saw "Bob" and "Lucy") it was only around 5 metres.

We turned left and swam along the sand line towards The Steps. Mike spotted a Nembrotha purpureolineata and before we reached Seahorse Rock I spotted a small orange painted angler. I looked for the weedy seadragon near Seahorse Rock but couldn't find it. I also couldn't find the one between the large rocks a little further along. I did find the tiny orange painted angler that Donna spotted on Saturday. It was under an alga and only its tail was protruding. There was a weedy seadragon on the other side of the rock and when I went to photograph it I noticed a small giant cuttlefish. I thought it was stalking the weedy seadragon but it kept swimming past it. I found the bent stick pipefish on the next rock.

Mike had got in front of me by now so I swam to catch up, finally catching him at the start of Seadragon Alley. I found the other orange painted angler Donna spotted on Saturday and pointed it out to Mike. We then saw the male weedy seadragon with the flatish second appendage. Mike was photographing a wrasse when I spotted the juvenile weedy seadragon.

I kept on along the sand line, past the end of Seadragon Alley, and stopped to look for the upside-down pipefish but couldn't see it. Just before Big Rock I found the larger of the two ornate ghostpipefish and while I was photographing it, Mike caught up to me. I then found the smaller ornate ghostpipefish a few metres away. I also spotted the black painted angler that Donna found on Saturday. Mike left me here and I continued on my own.

Just after Big Rock I saw the weedy seadragon with the deformed body. I swam past the basket star and on to Diversity Rock. "Noel" was in the sea tulips on Diversity Rock. "Daniel" was in the sponges on the low rock to the right. "Arnold" was in the sponges on the rock behind Diversity Rock. After a bit of hunting I found "Rosie" on the high rock to the left of Diversity Rock. The only thing left to do was to find the pygmy pipehorse. After searching for a while in the Carijoa I finally found it at the base of the honeycomb sponge.

I swam on to the other seahorses and found "Di" and "Mikhail" on their usual rock. I swam to the boulders, did my safety stop and exited at The Steps.

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

104 minutes

Maximum depth

20.8 m

Average depth

14.8 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.

High

4:13am

1.46m

Low

10:38am

0.58m

High

5:05pm

1.47m

Low

11:09pm

0.73m