Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 29 January 2017

Time

8:41am - 10:32am

Details

The plan for this dive was to go all the way from The Leap to The Monument and look for the pot-bellied seahorse at The Monument. It was calm and there was a large high tide (1.82m) in around 90 minutes.

We jumped in at The Leap: Sheree from the ledge and me sliding down the wall as the low platform was submerged. The surface water was clear: at least 5 metres. We submerged and I followed Sheree at around 60° to the sand line. We arrived at the amphitheatre right at Pygmy Rock. Visibility was at least 10 metres and maybe 15 metres. It was around 19°C and there was no noticible surge. We turned left and headed towards The Steps.

We hadn't gone far when Sheree pointed out a red-lined bubble shell roaming around one of the rocks on the sand line. Before we got to Seahorse Rock, I found Ian's pygmy pipehorses. I had a little more time and I was able to find both the large male and the smaller female.

Just after Seahorse Rock Sheree found a weedy seadragon in one of the swimthroughs. I tried to get in but it was too cramped. I got one photograph which may be suitable for ID. We saw another weedy just before the start of Seadragon Alley. We then didn't see any more weedies until after Big Rock.

After Big Rock I found the two pygmy seahorses on the rock below Hand Rock. A little further on Sheree spotted a weedy seadragon at the sand line.

Visibility here was over 15 metres and it was odd to be able to see so much at once. So much so that I missed most of my navigation marks and by the time we'd only just swam past Diversity Rock I could see Little Big Rock. I had a quick look for the orange red-fingered angler as we cruised but couldn't see it.

Before we reached The Steps Sheree pointed out another weedy seadragon. This one had a clingfish on its back.

We swam past The Steps and continued on towards The Monument. I wanted to find the grey red-fingered angler we'd seen 2 weeks ago. I swam a little above the sand line looking for the red chimney sponge. While I was looking I found a juvenile giant cuttlefish. I eventually found the chimney sponge but the angler was no longer at its base. I looked around the area and couldn't see the angler. We swam a little further and I found a grey red-fingered angler a few rocks away. I'm not sure if it is the same one. This one didn't seem to have as much red as the other.

We swam on to Block Rock and next to it I found the black angler Mike had spotted on Friday.

We continued along the sand line, past the deep wall and on the way to Split Rock I looked for the velvetfish Roney found on Friday. At Split Rock we found the yellow White's seahorse in the orange sponge. I also found the pygmy pipehorses a couple of rocks farther along. It appears there were three there.

We swam up towards the North-East Wall and I had a look for the grey red-fingered angler from Friday but couldn't find the correct rock. We had a quick look for the seahorse before heading to shallower water to do our safety stops. In the shallows I saw a lot of red-lined bubble shells. We exited at the point.

Buddy

Sheree Rose

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 20 metres

Duration

110 minutes

Maximum depth

22.3 m

Average depth

13.5 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

3:37am

0.43m

High

10:06am

1.82m

Low

4:39pm

0.28m

High

10:37pm

1.43m