Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 1 September 2018

Time

11:52am - 1:15pm

Details

For our second dive of the day we did The Monument. It had been a couple of weeks since I dived here and I was keen to see "Ginger", the female pot-bellied seahorse. I had planned for us to get in almost an hour earlier but we were late getting in for the first dive and had a 90 minute surface interval. This meant the tide would change soon after we got in.

We got in at the protected area around one third of the way to The Steps and waded out. When we got to the drop off we descended and swam to the sand line. The visibility was around 5 metres, perhaps a little more. There wasn't much surge and no current at this point. The water temperature was around 15°C. We turned right and headed towards Sutherland Point.

We swam along the sand line and then in to Block Rock and the subsequent sponge covered rocks. We got to the start of the deep wall when I spotted the juvenile weedy seadragon on the sand in the kelp. I swam down to take photographs and then noticed Ves and Nick out on the sand. I took photographs of the juvenile weedy and was about to continue along the wall when Cody called me back. He showed me an orange red-fingered anglerfish on the rock on the sand line just before the start of the wall.

As we started back along the wall, I noticed a male weedy seadragon with eggs at the base of the wall. I took some photographs before we continued.

We swam along the wall and I spotted the large dwarf lionfish in the orange finger sponge. I'll have to work out how long ago I first spotted it there but it must be at least 6 months ago. On the next rock I spotted "Ginger" in some algae. While I was taking photographs of "Ginger", Cody spotted a male pot-bellied seahorse just above her. This was a great find and greatly increases the chances of "Ginger" hanging around. We called him "Virgil".

We continued along the wall to near the end and then went up and over the wall to the rock where the pygmy pipehorses have been. I looked for the male pygmy on top of the rock but I could not find it. I looked on the back of the rock and spotted the female hiding in the algae.

We followed the reef past Slope Rock and on to the slope below Seahorse Rock. The visibility had dropped and we were swimming into current. I looked in the first orange finger sponge expecting the female White's seahorse to be in the second one but she was in the first one. I took some photographs of her and then swam up and around Seahorse Rock looking for the Nembrotha sp. nudibranchs but I couldn't find them. I came back down past the seahorse and then we continued.

We headed past Split Rock and on to the rock where the large grey red-fingered anglerfish has been. The visibility had dropped further and was probably less than 3 metres. The anglerfish was not there. I looked on the surrounding rocks but couldn't find it.

The current was getting quite strong and the visibility was not all that good. I figured it would be better to cut the corner rather than take the long way around. I headed up to the top of the wall and checked to make sure Cody was still with me. Once I got to the top of the wall I headed over the sand to the rocks. The current was quite strong here and it was a bit of effort to swim into it. I followed the rocks to the start of the East West Wall. I thought Cody was just behind me but when I reached the start of the wall he was gone.

I checked out the over hang on the large rock covered in Carijoa and after a bit of searching found my bright orange red-fingered anglerfish hiding deeply in the Carijoa. I first saw this anglerfish on 25 January on this same rock. In that time it had moved to a rock towards The Steps and then come back to this one.

I headed west along the wall to where the pygmy pipehorses have been. I kept an eye out for John's large orange red-fingered anglerfish. I spotted it just past where the pygmy pipehorses are. I then looked for the pygmy pipehorses. I found one male and then the other. Once I'd found them I set about looking for the females. I found the gold and white female and then found the cryptic female. The current was quite strong here and I had to fight it to take photographs.

I headed back the way I'd come to the top of the wall and hoped I'd bump into Cody. I followed the wall to I was about level with Split Rock and then headed for the rocks and ascended to 5 metres and started my safety stop. I swam until I was out from the exit at the small bay area just south east of the point and finished my safety stop. As I was heading for the exit I spotted a purple sea jelly and took some photographs before exiting.

Buddy

Cody Sheridan

Seas

Slight

Visibility

2 to 5 metres

Duration

82 minutes

Maximum depth

12.7 m

Average depth

9.7 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.

Low

5:44am

0.45m

High

12:06pm

1.51m

Low

6:15pm

0.56m