Dive Details

Location

Date

Wednesday 13 June 2018

Time

8:26am - 9:57am

Details

Mike, Roney and I had planned to meet at 7:30am for a slightly post high tide dive. Unfortunately, I was running late and so we weren't ready to hit the water until almost an hour after high tide. The water was quite calm with only a small swell and so my hopes were up for a good dive.

We got in at the Steps and waded out. When we were ready, we descended and headed towards the sand line. The visibility was around 5 to 8 metres and the was only a gentle surge. The water temperature was between 17 and 18°C. We turned right and headed towards Big Rock.

I stayed fairly high on the reef and was looking for the yellow red-fingered anglerfish. I arrived at Di's Rock and looked around for the grey red-fingered anglerfish. It wasn't in it's usual spot nor was it on Di's Rock. After a bit of looking around I found it on a rock to the south east. I pointed it out to Roney and Mike.

We swam on a little farther to a high rock. Roney pointed out the tiny orange painted anglerfish he'd found on the weekend. It looked slightly smaller than the one I'd found.

We headed to Little Big Rock. I found the golden male pygmy pipehorse on the rock behind Little Big Rock. I pointed it out to Mike and Roney.

We continued on towards Diversity Rock. Roney went a little shallower and Mike stayed with me. I found my tiny orange painted anglerfish and pointed it out to Mike. I swam on a little farther and then spotted a weedy seadragon. I followed the weedy taking photographs and I came across a thornback cowfish. While I was photographing the cowfish, Mike was photographing the weedy seadragon. All of a sudden it got very dark as a huge stingray swam right over the top of us. We found out later that Roney had taken a photograph of it up on the sand and his flash spooked it.

I went up the reef a bit and lost Mike. I swam past the basket star and on to Roney's red male pygmy pipehorse. I spent some time looking for a female but couldn't find one.

\ I swam past Sponge Hollow and on to the rock with the one-eyed seahorse. I found her on the southern side of the rock.

I headed Big Rock had a quick look and then turned and came back. I spotted a weedy seadragon near Slope Rock.

I visited the one-eyed seahorse and Roney's red pygmy pipehorse, my little painted anglerfish before coming back to Little Big Rock. It was about here that the visibility dropped to around 2-3 metres but I bumped into Mike.

I photographed the golden pygmy pipehorse before swimming on to Roney's tiny painted anglerfish. Finally I visited the grey anglerfish before heading for the boulders.

I surfaced to 5 metres and started my safety stop as I swam to Split Rock. I finished my safety stop and swam to the exit.

Buddy

Roney Rodrigues, Mike Scotland

Seas

Slight

Visibility

2 to 8 metres

Duration

91 minutes

Maximum depth

14.6 m

Average depth

11.3 m

Water temperature

17°C

Dive Profile from Garmin Descent Mk1

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

1:39am

0.35m

High

7:35am

1.53m

Low

1:24pm

0.41m

High

7:56pm

2.01m