Dive at Bare Island, La Perouse, NSW on Wednesday 24 February 2016

Dive Details

Location

Date

Wednesday 24 February 2016

Time

10:48am - 12:40pm

Details

We jumped in in the northern side of the island just to the east of the "swimming pool". We descended to the sand line, swam past the outboard motor, over the ledge and along the sand to the top of the slope.

We descended the slope to the rock with the purple sponge where I found the male pygmy pipehorse (IL2016012703). I couldn't find the female. While Mike was photographing the male I started to head further down the slope when I found the female (IL2016013001) on the sand. I suspect one of us may have bumped her off the rock. I carefully cupped her in my had and moved her back to the rock near the male.

We headed down the slope to the rocks with the pink sea tulips. I looked for the pygmies I'd seen before but could not find any of them. Bob pointed out a red indianfish on the third rock.

We swam further down the slope to the rock above Pygmy Rock. I tried to find the juvenile I'd seen 3 weeks ago but could not locate it.

We then swam to the rock where the upside-down pipefish pair was. I wanted to see the pair of pygmies I'd found 3 weeks ago on a night dive. I managed to find the female (IL2016020203) and while I was looking for the male (IL2016020204) Mike spotted him. While Mike was photographing the male pygmy I looked about a metre from him and found another female pygmy (IL2016022401).

I swam on to the rock where the white pygmies used to be. I could not find the white male (IL2015081403) who I last seen 3 weeks ago nor the brown male (IL2016011905) that I'd seen at the same time.

I went to New Pygmy Rock where I caught up to Kim. She'd not been able to find any pygmies on the rock. I hunted and I too had trouble until I found a juvenile (IL2016022402) on the side of the rock. Mike came along and I pointed out the juvenile and kept looking. I then found a female (IL2016022403) on the other side of the rock.

Mike and I headed around the corner. I was hoping to find the grey red-fingered angler. I believe I was looking in the right spot but could not see it. We headed back to New Pygmy Rock. I was looking on the reef in front of the caves adjacent to New Pygmy Rock when I discovered a tiny juvenile pygmy pipehorse (IL2016022404). It may be the smallest I have seen and was as long as the width of my index finger.

We headed back up the slope stopping again where the white pygmies had been and I could still not find any there.

Next stop was the rock above the upside-down pipefish. I spotted the pair of pygmy pipehorses again and while looking for the new female pygmy I found a new male pygmy (IL2016022405). That's two pairs around a metre apart. Mike left me just before I found the new male pipefish.

I headed up the slope stopping briefly at the rock above Pygmy Rock and the rocks with the pink sea tulips to look for pygmies but found none. I then stopped at the rock with the purple sponge and located both the male and female pygmies. Hopefully the female will stay put.

I ascended to 5 metres and stared my safety stop as I swam to the exit. I got out between the ramp and the "swimming pool". I was happy with seeing 9 pygmies.

Buddy

Mike Scotland, Kim Dinh, Bob Trudgeon

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 metres

Duration

111 minutes

Maximum depth

14.8 m

Average depth

11.0 m

Water temperature

19.6°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

4:00am

0.44m

High

10:18am

1.69m

Low

4:38pm

0.37m

High

10:43pm

1.49m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D300

Lens

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D

Housing

Ikelite 6812.3

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.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012703). 8.8 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012703). 8.9 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016013001). 9.1 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016013001). 8.9 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016020203). 11.9 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016020203). 11.8 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016022401). 11.6 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016020204). 11.8 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016022402). 13.8 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016022403). 14.2 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016022403). 13.6 m.

Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 13.9 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016022404). 13.3 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016022404). 13.4 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016022402). 13.6 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016022401). 11.5 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016022405). 11.6 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016022401). 11.3 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016020204). 11.6 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016020203). 11.4 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016020203). 11.3 m.

Red indianfish, Pataecus fronto. 9.6 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (). 8.4 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016013001). 8.7 m.