Dive Details

Location

Date

Wednesday 30 September 2015

Time

7:13pm - 8:15pm

Details

Night dive with Scubahtlon led by Tomas.

We jumped in on the western side of the island just south of the corner and surface swam south before descending. Tomas led us at around 210° to the deep wall. We swam west along the deep wall. I managed to find two pygmy pipehorses along the wall, a male (IL2015093001) and a female (IL2015093002). They were not a pair as they were on different rocks. While Chang-Le and I were photographing the pygmy pipehorses we got left behind.

We continued along the wall to where the seahorses used to be and we caught up with Tomas and the others. There was a large number of Port Jackson sharks in the area mostly lying under the ledges.

We followed the tiers for a while until Tomas had to take the others back. Chang-Le didn't have enough air to go around the island so we followed Tomas. We headed north over the sand and just as we came up the rise I found two more pygmy pipehorses. This time it was a pair, the male (IL2015093003) which had a parasite on its head, and a female (IL2015093004). Tomas and the others left us.

We continued north over the edge of the island and came down on the sand on the northern side if the island. I had a quick look for Little Miss Bouncy before we made a bee-line for the exit, doing our safety stop along the way.

Buddy

Chang-Le Dong

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 metres

Duration

62 minutes

Maximum depth

18.2 m

Average depth

13.6 m

Water temperature

18.6°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

3:23am

0.16m

High

9:39am

1.83m

Low

3:56pm

0.16m

High

10:05pm

1.66m

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.

Nudibranch, Gymnodoris sp. 17.9 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015093001). 17.7 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015093002). 16.8 m.
 

Eastern spiny gurnard, Lepidotrigla pleuracanthica. 13.8 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015093003). Note the parasite on his head. 13.2 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015093004). 13.3 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015093004). 13.3 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015093004). 13.2 m.
 

Nemertean. 12.6 m.
 

Sole. 5.3 m.
 

Sole. 4.6 m.