Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 21 April 2018

Time

7:35am - 9:08am

Details

I was working today and thought I'd slip in a quick dive before heading off to the Museum. I had a little extra time as I wasn't starting until 11am. This meant I didn't need to cut the dive short and I'd have time for some food before work.

The tide was still low and while the waves hitting the western side of the island were not all that big the shallow water would have made entry there a little difficult. To be safe, I got in at the pool and waded out. I surface swam around the corner before descending. On descent the visibility was pretty good, perhaps 5 metres or so. I headed south to the wall.

I reached the wall and descended it. Visibility here was closer to 10 metres and there was a gentle current from the incoming tide. There was no noticeable surge. The water temperature was around 20°C. I headed west along the wall.

I came to the spot along the wall where there is separate rock out from and just below the top of the wall. This is my navigation marker for the seahorse. I then looked around the top of the wall for the seahorse. It took me a little while to find her but eventually I did. Just like last time, there was a halfbanded seaperch divebombing most of my photographs.

I continued along the wall until it finished and then followed the edge of the reef to the west. I found a few Flabellina rubrolineata nudibranchs along the way. I then spotted a small cryptic pygmy pipehorse. I looked around for a second one but couldn't find any others.

I headed north over the sand and found more F. rubrolineata nudibranchs in the hydroid colonies. These nudibranchs seem to be becoming more common.

When I got to the south-west corner I continued west along the reef rather than tracking north. This took me to the edge of the isolated reefs. I then turned east and headed for the caves. I looked for pygmy pipehorses and anglerfishes as I swam but all I found were more F. rubrolineata nudibranchs.

I swam past the caves and on to the bottom of the slope. I found the white male pygmy pipehorse in his usual place. I noticed that the white honeycomb sponge had been almost ripped off the rock. I can only guess it was a diver that had done that. Behind the base of the sponge was the golden female pygmy pipehorse. It has been weeks since I last saw her.

I headed up the slope and found more F. rubrolineata nudibranchs. I couldn't find any pygmy pipehorses on the slope.

At the top of the slope I swam across the sand in front of the boulders. I started my safety stop when I reached the outboard motor. I finished my safety stop in front of the exit and got out near Carol's plaque.

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

93 minutes

Maximum depth

17.0 m

Average depth

11.8 m

Water temperature

19.7°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

6:35am

0.42m

High

12:38pm

1.35m

Low

6:16pm

0.64m