Dive Details

Location

Date

Wednesday 12 September 2018

Time

10:21am - 11:56am

Details

I was on my own today as Cody was still waiting for his drysuit to arrive. This would give me a good opportunity to go slowly and perhaps find "Sandy", the female great seahorse, that Joe and John found. I'd also be able to look for "Cody", the yellow male pot-belied seahorse.

I got in through the channel in front of the flagpoles and swam out to the start of the East-West wall. I descended to the start of the wall. The visibility was between 5 and 10 metres and the water temperature around 15°C. There was no noticeable current or surge. I headed east along the base of the wall.

I stopped at the basket star before continuing. When I got to the area where "Cody", the yellow male pot-bellied seahorse, and the yellowish female White's seahorse had been, I looked carefully around the area but could not find either one.

I swam on to the area where John had told us he'd seen "Sandy", the female great seahorse. I carefully looked around the area starting from the sponge he'd pointed out and eventually found her 3-5 metres to the east on another sponge. I'm confident she's a new individual and not the same one that was at The Leap nor the one from Bare Island.

I continued to the western end of the wall to the rock where the large orange red-fingered anglerfish has been. It was still there in the same spot. I looked on the adjacent rock for the pygmy pipehorses. The current picked up a bit making looking a little difficult. I found the white and gold female together with one of the males. Their tails were attached to the same alga. I also found the other male but I could not find the cryptic female.

I moved on to the large Carijoa covered rock. I looked for my bright orange red-fingered anglerfish but I could not find it. I did fine a dwarf lionfish.

I cut the corner and swam along the top of the NW-SE wall, dropping down to near where the grey red-fingered anglerfish has been in the gap in the rocks. The anglerfish was there but was more out in the open on top of the rock.

I continued along the reef past Split Rock and on to the slope below Seahorse Rock. I looked for the brown female White's seahorse on the slope. I found her in the open with he tail wrapped around a small purple sponge.

I swam on to the top of the Deep Wall. I found the male pygmy pipehorse on the back of the rock and then the female low down near the sand.

I dropped down the wall and looked for weedy seadragons as I swam to where the pot-bellied seahorses are. I found "Virgil", the dark brown male, and while I was looking for "Ginger", the orange female, I spotted a new male, "Gilligan". He's quite small small and is a light brown colour. I looked around the area for "Ginger" and eventually found her swimming around below the rock. She was quite active. Eventually she attached to a a sea tulip but let go of that and attached to a small red chimney sponge. On the next rock I found the large dwarf lionfish.

I swam on past the wall to the orange red-finger anglerfish that Cody had spotted a week ago.

I headed for the shore and ascended to 5 metres. I did my safety stop as I swam to the exit point. I ascended to the shelf and waded out.

Seas

Some surge

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

95 minutes

Maximum depth

13.0 m

Average depth

10.1 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

3:55am

0.21m

High

10:06am

1.65m

Low

4:11pm

0.30m

High

10:22pm

1.68m