Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 18 November 2018

Time

9:13am - 10:45am

Buddy

Ben Buchan, Nick Rogers, Versnar Chg, Paul

Seas

Surge

Visibility

3 to 8 metres

Duration

92 minutes

Surface interval

Maximum depth

12.7 m

Average depth

10.2 m

Water temperature

18°C

Dive Profile from Garmin Descent Mk1

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

5:36am

1.32m

Low

11:25am

0.70m

High

5:33pm

1.42m

Details

On my first dive today I was joined by Ves and Nick plus Nick's friends Ben and Paul. Ves wanted me to show her some pygmy pipehorses. It was an out going tide so we would do dive clockwise, getting in in front of the flagpoles and swimming east then south-east.

As the tide was so low we got in from the rocks and waded out before putting our find on. We then surface swam out to the start of the East-West Wall. We descended and swam over the wall. The visibility was around 5 metres which was not bad considering it was just over 2 hours from low tide. Surprisingly, there was no current. The water temperature was around 18°C. We headed east along the foot of the wall.

I stopped at the isolated rocks where Mandy's pygmies are. They were pretty much in the same spots they were on Thursday so I didn't have to look for long. I took some photographs and when Nick caught up I pointed them out to him.

I continued on ahead to look for "Naomi", the yellowish White's seahorse. I looked in her usual spots but hadn't found her by the time the others caught up. I kept searching and found her farther west than I have seen her before.

We followed the foot of the wall east all the way to the corner. I kept my eye out for seahorses and pygmy pipehorses along the way. I checked the shelf for the pygmy pipehorses but could not even find the one I saw last weekend.

We swam past the large Carijoa covered rock and I had a quick look on the side for the large orange red-fingered anglerfish but it wasn't there.

We headed over the corner and started making our way along the foot of NW-SE wall. I spotted a Hypselodoris obscura nudibranch along the way.

We came to the Valley of the Pygmies. The surge was quite strong here and the visibility had dropped. I found the pair of pygmy pipehorses on the Carijoa covered rock and pointed them out to Nick. I then headed to the slope to look for the others. I found the reliable male first. I then found a new female, I suspect she's the partner of the other male on the slope. I then found the partner of the reliable male. While I was looking for more pygmies I found a Dendrodoris gunnamatta nudibranch. I eventually found the other male. I was not able to find the juvenile or the pink female that I found on Thursday.

We swam south-east along the reef. I wanted to show the grey red-fingered anglerfish to the others but it wasn't in its usual hole. Nick indicated to me that he was taking Ves, Paul and Ben to the exit but I could stay if I wanted. I chose to stay. After they swam off I noticed Ben was still with me. I looked around and found the grey anglerfish on a nearby rock. I pointed it out to Ben.

We continued south-east along the reef past Split Rock and on to the slope below Seahorse Rock. I looked along the slope for "Nia", the brown White's seahorse but I could not find her.

The surge was quite strong and I wasn't sure what the exit would be like so I decided we'd head for the exit now. We headed up the slope past Seahorse Rock and to the rocks. We did our safety stops and then surfaced just out from the exit to access the conditions. It was not rough at all but the water in the little bay was very low so we climbed out onto the rocks.