Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 10 September 2016

Time

12:38pm - 2:21pm

Details

My first dive was so good I did a second. This time John joined me (and some guy on a rebreather named Barry). We got in on the northern side of the island to the west of the ramp and surface swam towards the corner before descending to the sand just before the outboard motor. We swam up over the shelf and along the sand in front of the boulders. We stopped at the rock with the purple sponge at the top of the slope and I found 3 of the pygmy pipehorses. I pointed them out to John and Barry.

We headed down the slope and I pointed out the angler on High Rock. We continued on to the corner in front of the caves to the great seahorse, Hippocampus kelloggi, and the little painted angler. I went on to try to get some better photographs of the crinoid squat lobster. Barry left us at this point.

We continued west towards the isolated reefs. While looking at a small sea fan I noticed a small white dot. When I looked through the viewfinder I realised it was a cowrie, Primovula rosewateri. A little further on John spotted an eastern spiny gurnard. John indicated to me he was heading back. I still had a lot of air left so I stayed. I took a few more photos of the gurnard and slowly headed back myself.

I kept an eye out for pygmy pipehorses on the way back but found no more until I reached the rock with the purple sponge near the top of the slope. I found all 4 of the pygmies. I then swam slowly over the sand hoping to find more pygmies but found none. I started my safety stop just before the outboard motor and finished as I was inline with the exit.

Buddy

John Turnbull

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 metres

Duration

103 minutes

Maximum depth

15.4 m

Average depth

11.1 m

Water temperature

14.9°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

2:07am

1.16m

Low

7:59am

0.67m

High

2:40pm

1.42m

Low

9:30pm

0.65m