Dive Details
Location
Date
Saturday 1 August 2015
Time
7:45am - 9:15am
Details
I had an early start so I could get as much as the dive in before high tide. Even though it wasn't very high, it was only an hour before the high tide so the low platform was mostly under water. I slid down the wall to get in. I descended and swam at around 60° to the sand line. I arrived at amphitheatre just a few metres to the south east of Pygmy Rock. Visibility was around 10 metres although with the Sun still being low in the sky it looked less.
I searched Pygmy Rock for only around 5 minutes and finding no pygmy pipehorses I headed on. I had a good look around the other side of the flat top rock for the pregnant male weedy seadragon I'd seen last weekend but could not see it.
I continued along the sand line on towards Seahorse Rock and found a weedy seadragon along the way. It was one (PT2014123001) I've seen numerous times in the area since last December.
After passing Seahorse Rock I had a quick look for "Pierre", the male pot-bellied seahorse, but I have to assume he's moved on.
I saw three weedy seadragons in Seadragon Alley (PT2013122201, PT2015011102, PT2014030803). One has been around since at least December 2013, one, a male, since March 2014, and the other I first saw in January this year.
Just after Seadragon Alley I saw a male weedy with eggs (PT2014091301). I have seen him since September last year and this is at least the third time he's had eggs. A little further on I saw the weedy (female I think) with the wavy body (PT2014030901). I continued along the sand line until Big Rock. I drifted up off the sand line to look for the pygmy pipehorses I'd seen last weekend. I found the rock and the two pygmies on it easily. The third pygmy on the adjacent rock took some time to find but I eventually found it.
I drifted back down to the sand line, swam past the basket star to the rock where "Rosie", the pot-bellied seahorse now lives. She was there hanging on to one of the pale green finger sponges (Mycale mirabilis).
Up from the sand line from "Rosie" I searched for the Miamira magnifica nudibranch but was not able to find it. I swam on to the rock where I saw "Di", the juvenile pot-bellied seahorse, and found her hiding in a pale green finger sponge.
I then swam to the boulders and did my safety stop while swimming to the Plesiastrea colonies. I exited at The Steps.
Seas
Slight
Visibility
10 to 12 metres
Duration
90 minutes
Maximum depth
22.0 m
Average depth
14.7 m
Water temperature
14.8°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides at Botany Bay AEST
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.
Low
2:47am
0.18m
High
8:46am
1.52m
Low
2:31pm
0.33m
High
9:00pm
2.00m
Camera gear
Camera
Nikon D7000
Lens
Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D
Housing
Ikelite 6801.70
Lens port
Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41
Strobe
2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161
Photographs
Depth information, where present, indicates the depth of the camera when the photograph was taken and can be used to approximate the depth of the subject.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014123001). 21.5 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014123001). 21.4 m.
Günther's butterflyfish, Chaetodon guentheri. 21.2 m.
Günther's butterflyfish, Chaetodon guentheri. 21.3 m.
Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 19.3 m.
Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 19.3 m.
Hunting reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 19.2 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2013122201). 18.6 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2013122201). 18.6 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2013122201). 18.8 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2013122201). 18.8 m.
Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 18.7 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015011102). 17.8 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015011102). 18 m.
Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 17.9 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030803). 18.1 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014091301). 14.6 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014091301). 14.5 m.
Eggs on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014091301). 14.7 m.
Eggs on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014091301). 14.8 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030901). 15.4 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030901). 15.6 m.
Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12.8 m.
Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12.8 m.
Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015070501). 12.8 m.
Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072602). 13.2 m.
Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072602). 13.3 m.
Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 14.3 m.
Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 14.4 m.
Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 13.5 m.
Eastern frogfish, Batrachomoeus dubius. 13.7 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.7 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.8 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 10.8 m.