Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 27 October 2018

Time

11:48am - 1:29pm

Buddy

Cody Sheridan, Angus, Mikhaela

Seas

Slight

Visibility

3 to 10 metres

Duration

100 minutes

Surface interval

Maximum depth

13.8 m

Average depth

10.7 m

Water temperature

17°C

Dive Profile from Garmin Descent Mk1

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

4:22am

0.37m

High

10:45am

1.78m

Low

5:12pm

0.29m

High

11:15pm

1.44m

Details

For our second dive at The Monument were were joined by Cody's friend Angus and Angus' girlfriend Mikhaela. It was after high tide so we'd get in at the beach and drift around the corner to the protected area. We bumped into Di and Greg who'd just dived and Di told me about a juvenile seahorse she'd found. I was keen to find it.

We got in at the channel in front of the flagpoles and surface swam out to the start of the East West Wall. We descended to the start of the wall and headed east. The visibility was 3 to 5 metres. I thought the current would be strong because we got in later than I had hoped but it was only gentle. The water temperature was around 17°C. We lost Cody when we descended but knew we'd meet up with him long the wall.

We stopped at the basket star and I pointed it out to Angus and Mikhaela.

We continued along the base of the wall until we reached the rock with the pair of pygmy pipehorses. Both were pretty much where they had been yesterday. I pointed them out to Angus and Mikhaela.

We followed the base of the wall to the area where I normally see the yellowish White's seahorse. Cody caught up with us around there. I looked everywhere for the seahorse but could not find her even though I'd seen her yesterday and Thursday.

We swam slowly through the area where the great seahorse had been. We looked for her but could not find her.

We continued to the eastern end of the wall and the area where the 4 pygmy pipehorses have been. The current had built up a bit but was not as bad as Thursday. After a bit of searching I found one of the male pygmy pipehorses. I was not able to find any of the others. I pointed out the pygmy to the others.

We swam on to the large Carijoa covered rock and found the large orange red-fingered anglerfish hanging on the underside. I pointed it out to Angus and Mikhaela who weren't really sure what they were looking at. I tried to point out the eye and mouth.

We dropped over the corner and down the reef. I wasn't sure which rocks Di had meant when she said where the juvenile seahorse had been. I looked carefully on the rocks but I didn't find it.

We started along the NW-SE wall. Angus indicated that he and Mikhaela were heading for the exit so we farewelled them and continued on our own.

I looked on the the three rocks at the base of the NW-SE wall. I think these were the rocks that Di meant. While I was looking on the first rock I found a Volva volva cowrie. I looked on the second and third rock but didn't find the seahorse. I did find a pair of pygmy pipehorses on the third rock. The female looks very much like the one I found on 14 September but was not able to find again. The male looks different from the one I found then.

We followed the wall to the grey red-fingered anglerfish. It was still in the hole it's been for the last few weeks.

We swam along the reef past Split Rock and on to the slope below Seahorse Rock. I looked at all the sponges I passed, especially those on Split Rock, for seahorse but found none. On the slope I found the brown White's seahorse hiding in the orange finger sponge where she'd been yesterday.

We continued to the rock where I'd seen "Mark", the male pot-bellied seahorse, yesterday and Thursday but he was no longer in the sponge. I looked around the area but could not see him.

We headed to the rock above the Deep Wall where the pygmy pipehorses had been. I knew the male wouldn't be there because the blue groper at it yesterday. I was hoping to find the female but I couldn't see it.

We dropped over the wall and along to where the seahorses had been. I had seen "Gilligan" on Tuesday and Thursday but not yesterday. We couldn't find him today. The large dwarf lionfish was in the orange finger sponge.

We swam past the end of the wall and on to the new pygmy pipehorses I'd found on Tuesday. The female was still in the algae next to the white honeycomb sponge. As I was photographing it, Cody pointed out the male.

We headed over to Block Rock and the sponge covered rock just before it. I looked for seahorses in the sponges but found none.

We were both getting low on air so we swam to the exit, ascending to 5 metres and doing our safety stop before getting out at the protected area.