Dive Details

Location

Date

Friday 1 July 2016

Time

12:26pm - 2:17pm

Details

Mike and I jumped in from the low platform. There was basically no swell so we couldn't wait for the water to rise to meet us and with the tide the water surface was nearly a metre below the level of the platform. Visibility on the surface was at least 5 metres.

We descended and headed towards the sand line at around 30°. The visibility stayed between 5 and 10 metres all the way. At the sand line we headed left towards The Steps.

The incoming tidal current was pretty strong so we didn't have to do much swimming. We drifted past Seahorse Rock where there was a small school of striped catfish. I was hoping to see one of my weedy seadragon regulars there but Mike spotted it a little further along near where the tiny angler was (and I couldn't find the angler). While I was photographing the weedy, Mike found a Ceratosoma brevicaudatum nudibranch.

We continued on to Seadragon Alley where we spotted another weedy seadragon. This was one of the juveniles from a year ago. We kept on past Big Rock, past where the basket star used to be and on to Diversity Rock. I found the female pygmy pipehorse but couldn't find the male. While Mike was photographing the pygmy pipehorse I made a wide sweep around the area looking for seahorses but found none. I did find a weedy seadragon just below Diversity Rock. Mike left me here and I continued looking for seahorses.

I headed to where the other seahorses were and stopped at the rock just before theirs, hoping to see the black painted angler. It wasn't on the sponge it was on last week but I found it on an adjacent rock. I looked around for the seahorses but they weren't to be seen. I took another wide sweep but found no seahorses.

I headed for the boulders, ascended to 5 metres and started my safety stop while swimming to the exit. I got out at The Steps where the seas were flat.

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

111 minutes

Maximum depth

20.9 m

Average depth

13.4 m

Water temperature

16.2°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

5:07am

1.47m

Low

11:07am

0.42m

High

5:40pm

1.83m