Dive Details

Location

Date

Wednesday 10 January 2018

Time

12:20pm - 1:54pm

Details

Today we decided to do The Monument. The water had been quite cool yesterday when I dived with Sheree so we weren't sure what it would be like today. It was very calm in the bay and there seemed very little evidence of the 1 to 1.5 metre southerly swell. We got in at the protected area around two thirds of the way to The Steps and waded out to the drop off. We descended and swam to the sand line. The visibility was incredible at around 15 metres and it was also very calm. There was a bit of a current but not much. The water temperature was over 21°C and very pleasant. We turned left and headed towards the point.

We swam to Block Rock and I had a quick look around the area for anglerfishes and seahorses but found none. A little farther along the reef just before the rock we saw the orange red-fingered anglerfish on Friday I spotted the most spectacular looking velvetfish I have ever seen. He (I assume it was a male in display colouration) had bright pink and orange markings. As I was photographing him Mike swam back and let out an exclamation. I left Mike to photograph the velvetfish while I went looking for the anglerfish. I found red-fingered anglerfish on a nearby rock. It was orange like the one Mike showed my on Friday but seemed smaller. It may have been the same one. I took some photographs, pointed it out to Mike and then went back to take some more photographs of the velvetfish.

We swam along the wall looking for anglerfishes and anything else of interest. At the end of the wall I swam up over the wall to where the orange painted anglerfish used to be and looked around for the anglerfish in case it had come back. I also looked for pygmy pipehorses but found none.

I swam down to Carijoa Rock. I looked carefully for pygmy pipehorse and anglerfishes but found none. I headed up to Slope Rock where Mike was and looked around for pygmy pipehorses. I found Dama's red male pygmy on the side of the rock adjacent to Slope Rock. I pointed it out to Mike but he was already heading up to Seahorse Rock. I looked on a nearby rock where I have seen a large male pygmy pipehorse last Friday but I could not find it.

I headed on to Split Rock and then to the father rock where I had seen the white female pygmy pipehorse. This is the same pygmy pipehorse that had been attached to the lure of a white red-fingered anglerfish. I found the white female pygmy although she was in a difficult spot to photograph. Mike swam up and I pointed the pygmy out to him - at least I thought I did. He was looking from a different angle and didn't see here but instead saw a brown male that I didn't see.

We continued along the reef and I started looking for the pale yellow red-fingered anglerfish that John had pointed out on Friday. We found the rock with the Capnella but the anglerfish was no longer there. We looked around the area but still couldn't find it. I swam down to the rock with the orange sponges and found the grey red-fingered anglerfish there. It looks as though it has barely moved.

We headed along the wall and we got to around 10 metres when I spotted another grey red-fingered anglerfish. I tried to get Mike's attention but he kept swimming. I took some photographs and started to swim after Mike when he started swimming back towards me. I motioned to him to some to me and he did the same. We met half way and he showed me a photo of a salmon red-fingered anglerfish on his camera so I took him back and showed him the grey one I'd found. While he was photographing the grey anglerfish I went to where I'd seen Mike come from to look for the salmon one. I found it quite easily because it was out in the open. Mike caught back up to me.

We continued along the wall and at the end of the wall started looking for the white red-fingered anglerfish Mike had found on Friday. We couldn't find it at first but that was because we hadn't gone far enough. We kept going around the corner and eventually found it.

We continued around the corner and came to the low rock where we'd seen a pair of pygmy pipehorses on New Year's Day. We only found the male this time and took some photographs.

We headed to the top of the reef and towards the large rocks to the rock where John had pointed out the large orange red-fingered anglerfish on Friday. The anglerfish was still hanging out on the underside of the rock.

We kept going west onto the sand to go to the rock where "Sunshine", the pot-bellied seahorse, has been. I found the rock and after a bit of searching found "Sunshine" in the gap between her rock and the next rock. After taking photos of her we went to the wall and ascended it before swimming south to the point. We got out on the rocks at the point.

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 15 metres

Duration

93 minutes

Maximum depth

12.8 m

Average depth

10.1 m

Water temperature

21.3°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

4:15am

1.42m

Low

10:25am

0.68m

High

4:17pm

1.28m

Low

10:33pm

0.55m