Dive Details
Location
Date
Saturday 30 January 2016
Time
11:44am - 1:33pm
Details
Duncan and Mike joined me for my second dive.
We jumped in on the northern side of the island just to the west of the ramp. We surface swam for a bit before descending to the sand. We swam past the outboard motor, up over the ledge and along the sand in front of the boulders. As I swam over one of the rock on the sand I spotted a female pygmy pipehorse (IL2016013003) I'd not seen before.
We continued to the top of the slope and started down the slope, stopping at the rock with the purple sponge. I found the male pygmy pipehorse (IL2016012703) first and pointed it out to Duncan and Mike. I then found the female (IL2016013001) I'd found on the earlier dive.
We swam further down the slope to the second rock with the pink sea tulips. I couldn't find the female on top of the rock but we found the small white male (IL2016012401) and small female pygmy (IL2015121901) on the side of the rock.
We continued down the slope stopping at the rock above Pygmy Rock. Mike found a tine red-line bubble snail. We headed further down the slope and stopped at the large white male pygmy pipehorse (IL2015081403). The other male (IL2016011905) was in the gap.
We swam on to New Pygmy Rock in front of the caves. There we found the small white male pygmy (IL2016011901), the female (IL2016011902) and her partner (IL2016011903). I also found the other male (IL2016013002) I'd found on the previous dive.
We then headed west along the reef in the hope of finding the striped anglers others had seen. We weren't able to find the anglers but I found a velvetfish which was a bonus.
We swam back to New Pygmy Rock where I lost Duncan and Mike. While I was there Tomas swam by and offered to show me the anglers so I followed him. We followed the reef around to the left. We didn't find the striped anglers but Tomas did find a grey red-fingered angler.
I was running low on air so I swam back past New Pygmy Rock and then up the slope. I did my safety stop and exited to the west of the ramp. Again I saw 11 pygmy pipehorses, even though I'd found another new one.
Buddy
Duncan, Mike Scotland
Seas
Slight
Visibility
3 to 5 metres
Duration
109 minutes
Maximum depth
16.4 m
Average depth
11.4 m
Water temperature
18.3°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides
High
1:12am
1.38m
Low
7:07am
0.64m
High
1:10pm
1.43m
Low
7:33pm
0.53m
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.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016013003). 8 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012703). 9 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016013001). 9 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012401). 9.6 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121901). 9.9 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121901). 10 m.
Red-lined bubble snail, Bullina lineata. 10.4 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081403). 12.9 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011905). 12.9 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011901). 13.7 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011902). 14 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011903). 13.8 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016013002). 13.4 m.
Velvetfish, Aploactisoma milesii. 16 m.
Velvetfish, Aploactisoma milesii. 15.9 m.
Velvetfish, Aploactisoma milesii. 15.9 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011901). 13.5 m.
Red-fingered anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 14.6 m.
Red-fingered anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 14.6 m.
Red-fingered anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 14.5 m.
Red-fingered anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 14.4 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016013002). 13.6 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011901). 13.8 m.