Dive Details

Location

Date

Thursday 6 July 2017

Time

2:40pm - 4:31pm

Details

Mike and I jumped in from the low platform where the water was just lapping the edges. Roney and Dama jumped in from the top shelf. We descended together but Roney and Dama only had 10.5L tanks so I didn't see them for the rest of the dive. We swam to the sand line and reached it just to the north west of the Amphitheatre. The visibility was around 15 metres, it was around 18°C, the current was quite strong but there was only a gentle surge. We turned left and headed towards The Steps.

I looked for the orange red-fingered angler just before Ian's Pygmy Rock but I couldn't find it. I also didn't find any pygmy pipehorses on Ian's Pygmy Rock.

We continued on past Seahorse Rock and on to Bent Stick Rock. I found the Ceratosoma brevicaudatum nudibranch on the rock below Bent Stick Rock but I couldn't find the Nembrotha nudibranch. There was one weedy seadragon on the sand just around the corner.

We swam on to Southern Cross Rock and I found the yellow male pygmy pipehorse in the Carijoa. There was another weedy seadragon right there.

I swam through Seadragon Alley and caught up top Mike who'd got ahead of me. I didn't see any weedy seadragons until the end of Seadragon Alley where there were two swimming near the red widebody pipefish with the parasite. Mike swam past me here.

I caught up to Mike again at Big Rock and he motioned me to come up where he'd found a well camouflaged red-fingered angler. I swam around to the other side of Big Rock and looked on the rock below Hand Rock for pygmy pipehorses. I found a small cryptic male on the side of the rock. I swam on to Slope Rock where I found the pink male pygmy pipehorse.

I went back to the sand line and followed it until Old Basket Star Rock and then cut in to Miamira Rock. The pair of red widebody pipefish were not in the usual clump of alga which was now mostly gone. I looked around and found them nearby.

I headed to Diversity Rock spotting the Nembrotha purpureolineata along the way. At Diversity Rock I spotted two cryptic pygmy pipehorses and then another one on the next large rock.

I swam on to Little Big Rock and looked all around for the red-fingered anglers we'd seen previously and couldn't find either one. I found two cryptic pygmy pipehorses in the Carijoa on Little Big Rock.

I went on a bit further hoping to find the grey red-fingered angler that Roney had found but I couldn't find it.

I headed for the boulders and started my safety stop while swimming to Split Rock. I finished my safety stop and swam to the exit. I was able to swim underwater right to the exit and then climb out onto the shelf.

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Slight

Visibility

15 metres

Duration

111 minutes

Maximum depth

21.2 m

Average depth

14.1 m

Water temperature

17.7°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

12:40am

0.60m

High

6:20am

1.31m

Low

12:01pm

0.59m

High

6:43pm

1.70m