Dive Details

Location

Logged dive number

1755

Date

Monday 9 March 2020

Time

8:14am - 9:53am

Buddy

Natasha Smith

Seas

Slight current and almost no surge

Visibility

3 to 8 metres

Duration

99 minutes

Surface interval

Maximum depth

14.0 m

Average depth

11.3 m

Water temperature

19.8°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

2:26am

0.35m

High

8:50am

1.97m

Low

3:23pm

0.16m

High

9:27pm

1.61m

Details

Today was my second dive with Natasha. We repeated yesterday's dive at The Steps but this time getting in before high tide. If today was anything like my dive on Saturday, we should have good visibility and temperature for most of the dive.

We geared up and walked down to the entry. As the tide was much higher than yesterday, I got Natasha to put her fins on first and then step in from the edge of the main rock platform. I also jumped in there but put my fins on in the water.

We descended to the edge of the boulders and swam out through the kelp to the rocks in front of the entry. I looked on the rocks for anglerfishes but found none.

We reached the sand line and then turned right and headed towards Little Big Rock. The visibility was around 8 metres. It was not as good as I'd had initially on Saturday but was so much better than yesterday. It was unlikely we'd get separated. The water temperature was around 20°C. There was negligible current and only slight surge.

We swam along the sand line to the rocks where I saw the Pot-bellied Seahorses in late 2018. On the way I spotted a Uniphora granifera sea star and pointed it out to Natasha. I look over the rocks for anglerfish or anything else of interest but found nothing.

I continued along the sand line with Natasha behind me. Half way between the late 2018 seahorse rock and Pipefishes Hole I spotted "Teardrop", the male Weedy Seadragon. I took some photographs of him and turned to show him to Natasha when I realised she was still back at the old seahorse rock. I swam back and she was watching three Mourning Cuttlefish interacting. It was likely a female and two males. One of the males was trying to stop the other male from getting to the female. I sneaked in for a couple of quick photographs and then left her to it. She was watching them for around 10 minutes. I took some more photographs of "Teardrop" while I was waiting.

When Natasha caught up to me I pointed out "Teardrop". She spent over 15 minutes photographing him. While I waited I swam to Pipefishes Hole and spotted one of the Upside-down Pipefish.

Natasha finished with "Teardrop" and caught up to me at Pipefishes Hole. I pointed out the hole and indicated there was an Upside-down Pipefish in the hole. She watched it for 5 to 10 minutes.

We headed up to Di's Rock and then along the top of the reef to the larger orange Red-fingered Anglerfish on the side of the rock. I took some photographs and then pointed it out to Natasha.

We continued along the top of the reef towards David's Rock. This was the rock the Pot-bellied Seahorses had been on until the storm last month. I looked around the area for the small yellow Red-fingered Anglerfish but couldn't find it. The visibility started to drop.

We dropped down to Little Big Rock and then along the sand line to the rock where the black Painted Anglerfish was yesterday and Saturday. It was not in the sponge and I couldn't see it nearby. The visibility was now down to around 3 metres.

We swam towards the basket star and I looked for the Zebra Lionfish along the way but didn't find it. I looked on the rock for the two whiteish pygmy pipehorses I'd found yesterday and found first the male (IL2020030801) and then the female (IL2020030802). I took photographs while I was waiting for Natasha to catch up.

We headed over to the basket star which I pointed out to Natasha. We hung around the area of the basket star for 5 minutes or so before turning around and heading back towards The Steps.

On the way back to David's Rock I pointed out a juvenile Eastern Smooth Boxfish and a Balanophyllia solitary stony coral. I had another look around David's Rock for the small yellow Red-fingered Anglerfish but couldn't find it.

We swam along the top of the reef to the larger orange Red-fingered Anglerfish. We then stayed along the top of the reef checking out the rocks.

I was starting to get low on air so we cut across the kelp to the boulders. On the way I spotted a female Weedy Seadragon in the kelp. We stopped to take photographs. She was quite skittish and it was difficult to photograph. We stayed with her for a while until my air got to a critical level so I indicated to Natasha we had to leave.

We ascended to the boulders and started our safety stops while heading to Split Rock. We got to Split Rock, finished our safety stops and then I went on ahead underwater to the exit.

The exit was quite easy for me. I stood up on the lower platform, took off my fins and wlaked out to drop my camera and fins. I went back to help Natasha.