Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 16 June 2018

Time

8:31am - 10:16am

Details

I had dived at The Steps for 4 out of the last 5 dives (and the other dive was at The Leap which includes The Steps) and wanted a change so I decided to dive at The Monument. Cody joined me for the dive and it was his first dive since injuring his thumb a few weeks ago.

Conditions were perfect. There was basically no swell and just a bit of wind stopped the water surface from being like glass.

We got in at the protected area around a third of the way towards The Steps. We waded out to the drop off and then descended, swimming to the sand line. Visibility was around 10 metres and there was no surge. The water temperature was between 17 and 18°C. We turned left and headed with the gentle current towards Sutherland Point.

I found a small crested horn shark just before Block Rock. There was an octopus just behind it. There were quite a few Phyllodesmium poindimiei nudibranchs in the Carijoa near Block Rock.

We swam on to the wall. I was surprised to see the dwarf lionfish was still in the orange sponge where I'd seen it before the last rough weather. I then found a small thornback cowfish swimming around the rock. A little farther along the rock I looked for the orange red-fingered anglerfish but I could not see it.

We dropped to the sand and looked for the juvenile weedy seadragon but I could not see it.

At the end of the wall we swam up and over to look for the grey red-fingered anglerfish but I could not find it. I looked all around the nearby rocks.

We swam on to Slope Rock and I looked for the small grey red-fingered anglerfish I'd found a couple of weeks ago but I could not find it. I looked around the area for it and pygmy pipehorses but found none.

We continued along the reef. I looked for the brown female White's seahorse but could not find her. I swam up to Seahorse Rock and found one of the Nembrotha sp. nudibranchs and pointed it our to Cody.

We headed back down the reef again and swam past Split Rock and on to Four Pygmies Rock. I was looking for the anglerfish we'd seen before but found none. I also didn't find any pygmy pipehorses. Cody found a small Nembrotha sp. nudibranch and then a large N. purpureolineata.

We dropped down to the sand line and then swam over to the second Carijoa covered rock. I found the Volva volva cowrie straight away and pointed it out to Cody.

We continued on towards Sutherland Point. I found the rock where Roney had last pointed out the large orange red-fingered anglerfish but I couldn't find it.

We checked out the large rocks on the point before heading around the corner and up the slope. I swam past the big Carijoa covered rock and on to the next rock where the bright orange red-fingered anglerfish has been. I could see it from 5 metres away. I pointed it out to Cody. While I was photographing it I noticed a blob of orange on the next rock. I thought it looked a bit like a red-fingered anglerfish so I checked it out. It was so I photographed it.

We headed along the wall to the west. I wanted to try to find the pygmy pipehorse I'd found last time. I looked in the same area bt couldn't find it. After looking for a while I spotted a tiny juvenile. I took some photographs and pointed it out to Cody. He couldn't see it. I showed him the photograph on the camera and then he worked out what I was pointing at.

We started to head west but the visibility dropped significantly to only 3 metres so we turned and headed back past the anglerfish and then along the wall to the south-east. As we swam along the wall we saw two giant cuttlefish in the cave. We ascended to 5 metres and did our safety stops. We exited at the little bay.

Buddy

Cody Sheridan

Seas

Calm

Visibility

3 to 10 metres

Duration

105 minutes

Maximum depth

13.7 m

Average depth

10.3 m

Water temperature

16.0°C

Dive Profile from Garmin Descent Mk1

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

4:19am

0.22m

High

10:23am

1.48m

Low

4:00pm

0.48m

High

10:29pm

2.05m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D500

Lens

Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED

Housing

Ikelite 6812.5

Lens port

Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41

Strobe

2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161

Photographs

Depth information, where present, indicates the depth of the camera when the photograph was taken and can be used to approximate the depth of the subject.

Thornback, cowfish, Lactoria fornasini. 11.8 m.
 

Red-fingered anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 9.5 m.
 

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 10.1 m.
 

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 10 m.
 

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 10.2 m.