Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 5 August 2018

Time

11:01am - 12:46pm

Details

This was my 6th and last dive of a 5 day stint of diving to try to catch up to my target for 200 dives of the year. Swell conditions were still good although the cold water and horrible algae everywhere made it less enjoyable. I was keen to dive The Monument again to see "Ginger", the female pot-bellied seahorse, as well as the anglerfish I'd seen lately.

I got in from the protected area around one third of the way to The Steps and waded out. It was mid tide so the water was quite shallow and I had to wade a fair way out before donning my fins. Once it was deep enough I swam on the surface to the drop off. The visibility on the surface looked pretty good. I descended and swam to the sand line. The visibility dropped to 3 to 5 metres a it as I got closer to the sand line and there was a lot of the snot algae floating with the current. The water temperature was between 15 and 16°C. The incoming tidal current was quite strong. I turned right and headed towards Sutherland Point.

I rode the current to Block Rock and then had to fight it to look more closely at Block Rock and the adjacent sponge covered rock.

I continued on to the wall and along the wall. I looked for the dwarf lionfish in the orange finger sponge at the start of the rock but could not find either of them. I looked for "Ginger" along the side of the rock. She was not in either of the sea tulips I've seen her in before or on the red chimney sponge she was in on Thursday. I looked all the way around the rock but could not find her. I did find the smaller of the two dwarf lionfish in an orange finger sponge on the next rock and then I found the larger one below its usual orange finger sponge. I was not able to find "Ginger" anywhere.

I followed the wall until nearly the end and then dropped to the sand and looked through the kelp for the juvenile weedy seadragon. I hadn't been able to find it on Thursday and wanted to spend a bit more time looking for it. I eventually found it.

I swam up over the wall to the rock where the two new pygmies have been. I found the male on top of the rock almost straight away. The rock was covered in snot algae which I tried to remove so I could photograph the pygmy. I found the female on the other side of the rock. She, too, had a lot of snot algae around her.

I headed along the reef to Slope Rock. I started looking for pygmies on Slope Rock but realised it was a lost cause due to all the snot algae. It was difficult to see anything.

I continued to the slope and looked for the White's seahorse. She wasn't in the orange finger sponge or the next red sponge. After swimming around I found her a little farther along in the yellow spaghetti sponge.

I swam up to Seahorse Rock and found the small Nembrotha sp. nudibranch on the substrate beside it. I then headed back down the reef.

I headed along the reef towards Sutherland Point. I checked out Split Rock for seahorses and anglerfishes but found none. I checked out numerous rocks as I swam and all had snot algae all over them.

I reached to high rocks with the gap and found the large grey red-fingered anglerfish in the gap where it has been for some time.

I continued on towards Sutherland Point seeing another small Nembrotha sp. nudibranch along the way. I dropped to the bottom of the wall and stopped at the last rock with Carijoa to look for the cowrie. It appears most of the Carijoa has died, perhaps from the snot algae that has been covering it. I found the cowrie towards the middle of the rock.

I continued to the point and ascended the reef. Just before going up over the point I found an eastern frogfish under a ledge. I think I have seen one here before.

I swam to the large rock with Carijoa at the end of the East-West Wall. I looked for the large orange red-fingered anglerfish on the top of the rock where it had been on Thursday and last Saturday. It wasn't there. Red-fingered anglerfish often return to previous haunts so I swam around the the under side of the rock. Before I even got to where it was when John Farrant first showed us I spotted it hanging under the rock. It was covered in snot algae which I cleaned before taking photographs.

I swam on to the next rock to look for the bright orange red-fingered anglerfish but it wasn't there. I looked all around the rock but could not find it. I then thought that if the large orange anglerfish had moved towards where we'd first seen it maybe this one had too, so I swam back to the large rock and looked on the side near where I first spotted it months ago. It was there, well, near to where I first saw it. I had to remove some snot algae to take photographs.

I swam west along the start of the East-West Wall to the spot where I have seen pygmies. I found the yellow and white female straight away. The whole areas is covered in snot algae and the Carijoa colonies, as small as they were, were gone. I then found one of the yellow males nearby. With a bit more searching I found the other yellow male. I searched some more and found the little pink female. I was pleased to have found all four of them again. I took a lot of photographs of them.

I headed back east along the wall to the large orange red-fingered anglerfish and the bright orange one. I then headed south-east to try to find the other orange red-fingered anglerfish but I didn't head enough south and ended up on the other wall. I came around back to the large rock and tried again. I was either not able to find the correct rock or the anglerfish has moved on.

I was running low on air and so need to head for the exit. I headed south along the wall and ascended to 5 metres. I met a large and friendly giant cuttlefish. It swam with me for much of the swim towards the exit. It was almost like it wanted me to follow it. I followed it for a while but had to keep going to the exit.

I swam all the way to the bay area just in from the point and got out there.

Seas

Slight

Visibility

3 to 8 metres

Duration

104 minutes

Maximum depth

13.3 m

Average depth

9.9 m

Water temperature

15°C

Dive Profile from Garmin Descent Mk1

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

1:35am

1.37m

Low

7:57am

0.52m

High

2:30pm

1.50m

Low

8:48pm

0.66m