Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 19 January 2019

Time

8:12am - 9:42am

Buddy

Cody Sheridan, Ron Walsh

Seas

Some current

Visibility

3 to 5 metres

Duration

90 minutes

Surface interval

Maximum depth

13.6 m

Average depth

10.7 m

Water temperature

17.0°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

12:49am

0.44m

High

7:25am

1.80m

Low

2:07pm

0.32m

High

8:00pm

1.37m

Details

Cody and Ron joined me for my dive this morning at The Monument. I was keen to get back to check out the anglerfish I'd seen mating last Saturday. High tide was 7:25am so we'd be diving on the outgoing tide. I planned an early dive so we'd be as close as possible to high tide.

We got in through the channel in front of the flagpoles and swam out on the surface. Once we hit our mark we descended. I was a little short of the wall and we had to swim north for a short while to reach the wall. We dropped down and were not far from the basket star. The visibility was between 3 and 5 metres and the water temperature was around 17°C. The current was gentle and there was no surge.

We swam past the basket star and continued along the base of the wall to the isolated rock with Mandy's pygmies. They have been low on the rock the last few times so I went straight there and found them both. I pointed them out to Ron. A little farther along I spotted a dwarf lionfish.

We swam past the rock where "Naomi", the yellow White's seahorse, has been. I looked in her usual sponge but could not see her. I then looked in the other sponges on the rock and still could not find her. I then looked on the surrounding rocks but she was not to be found.

I moved on slowly along the wall. I made sure I could still see Ron or Cody behind me and got to the eastern end of the East-West Wall. I waited there for Ron and Cody. Ron caught up but there was no sign of Cody. We waited another 5 minutes and then gave up and headed over the corner. As we were approaching the start of the NW-SE Wall we spotted Cody at the bottom of the wall.

I swam on to the Carijoa and sponge covered rock in the Valley of the Pygmies. I found the red and white male straight away and then eventually found the pink female near him. I looked around for the other pair on the rock. I found a whitish male. I have to assume it is the male I've seen there before and he's changing colour. I couldn't find the female. I pointed the first pair out to Ron and started to look for the pygmies on the slope.

I found the greenish male first. He looks like he's changing colour. Cody found and pointed out a small pinkish male. I found the pair on the south-eastern most rock. They were together. I swam around and found the pinkish female which I think was the partner of the reliable male. I couldn't find him.

I went back to the rock to look for the other female. I found her on the other side of the rock from the first pair. Cody found the cryptic female on the same rock as the greenish male.

We left Valley of the Pygmies to go to look at the anglerfishes. We swam up the reef to the rock where they were. I was heartbroken when I looked in the hole to see it was bare. Not only were there no anglerfish but the eggs were gone, too. While the older eggs may have hatched already, the new eggs that were being laid last Saturday would still be new. I looked around the rocks for the anglerfish but I could not see them anyway. I spotted an egg mass around 30cm below the hole on the rock. Could these be the new eggs? What had happened to the anglerfish. While we were looking round, the blue groper swum up and that might be the answer. It is quite likely that he ate them after I had seen them as he often follows me around. I felt gutted.

We continued along the reef past Split Rock and on to the slope. I looked for "Nia", the brown White's seahorse, as I usually do but I'm sure she's no longer around.

We swam to the deep wall and along it. I looked briefly for the seahorses and the dwarf lionfish before swimming on to Pygmy Hollow. I found a pair of pygmies on the shoreward rock. The male was very pregnant. I could not find the one in the gap. Ron left us at this point.

We continued along the reef to try to find the small anglerfish. The poor visibility made it difficult for me to know if I had the right rock but I think I did and the anglerfish was not there.

We then headed for the exit. I lost Cody somewhere along the way but ended up right at the exit point. He then happened along. We did our safety stop and then surfaced on to the shelf and waded out.