Dive Details

Location

Date

Monday 28 November 2016

Time

11:10am - 12:39pm

Details

There was a moderate 2 metre southerly swell hitting the southern side of Bare Island and there was some wash coming around the corner and hitting the northern side to the west of the bridge. Despite the swell, the water looked quite clear from the car park.

We got in on the northern side of the island just to the west of the ramp. Visibility looked okay from the surface, too. We surface swam for a short while before descending to the sand. Visibility was 3 to 5 metres but there was a bit of surge that was stirring up the bottom a small amount.

We headed past the outboard motor, over the ledge and along the sand in front of the boulders. The surge was quite strong here. We swam down the slope and I briefly looked for the pygmy pipehorse Kim had found last week but couldn't see it.

We continued down the slope to the orange sponges where the great seahorse had been hoping she'd come back. We then went around the corner past the caves and on to the hand sponges where the male great seahorse(s) had been. The surge here was a lot less than it had been at the top of the slope. The visibility was still 3 to 5 metres, not bad for an outgoing tide.

From here we moved west. Kim wanted me to show her the little cowrie I'd found a couple of months ago. On the way to the sea fan I spotted the pygmy pipehorse I'd found last week. I located what I thought was the correct sea fan but I could not see the cowrie.

We continued west so I could make sure there wasn't a similar sea fan that had the cowrie. We ended up on the southern side of the Isolated Reef. I didn't think finding it would be so easy. I will have to come back here again.

We turned and came back along the Isolated reef but a little shallower until we got back to the sea fan. I was now convinced I had the right one and the cowrie has moved on.

We made our way back past the pygmy pipehorse and on to the corner. I checked the orange sponge on the western side past the caves for the male great seahorse I'd seen 2 weeks ago but it was also gone. I came back to the orange sponge with the squat lobsters and found them both there.

We swam back to the rock with the Carijoa colonies and the Volva volva cowrie but the cowrie was gone. We looked around the area at the bottom of the slope before gradually making our way up the slope. We stopped at the rock above Pygmy Rock and looked for the pygmy pipehorse from last week but couldn't find it. Kim left me here and headed for the exit.

I continued up the slope stopping at the rocks with the pink sea tulips and the rock with the purple sponge to look for pygmy pipehorses but found none. At the top of the slope I swam slowly along in front of the boulders in the hope of finding some pygmy pipehorses. When I got the the outboard motor I started my safety stop finishing near the kelp straight out from where I had entered. I exited here. The swell had picked up a bit but the exit was still easy.

Buddy

Kim Dinh

Seas

Some surge

Visibility

3 to 5 metres

Duration

88 minutes

Maximum depth

17.0 m

Average depth

10.8 m

Water temperature

19.4°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

1:55am

0.47m

High

8:25am

1.66m

Low

2:53pm

0.43m

High

8:45pm

1.37m