The water around Bare Island looked quite rough. It was a easterly swell that was washing around the northwest corner of the island. It was also a very high tide and even though I got in around an hour after high tide the water was still lapping the wall.
I got in to the west of the ramp. It was easier than I expected based on the waves coming in. I surface swam past the kelp and descended to the sand. Visibility was around 3 metres and there was a bit of surge.
I swam past the outboard motor and over the ledge. As I was swimming in front of the boulders I noticed a little yellow nudibranch, Diversidoris sulphurea. I continued to the top of the slope and then headed down the slope. The further I got down the slope the less surge there was but the visibility did not improve.
I checked out Juvy Rock but neither seahorse was there. I went on to the orange sponges where I'd previously seen the female but did not see her there. I swam to the corner looking at all the sponges along the way but found no seahorses. I came back the the two orange sponges from a different angle and saw the female in the larger of the two sponges. She must have been there before but I missed her.
I then started looking all around the area for the male. I eventually found him on a red chimney sponge (but not the same one he was on last week). These seahorses move around so much more than pot-bellied seahorses. While I was photographing the male seahorse I noticed a red indianfish on the sand below him. The red indianfish started moving and I shot some video as the red indianfish moved itself to just below the seahorse.
I checked out the female seahorse again estimating they were 5 metres apart before heading up the slope. I hadn't gone far before I spotted a male pygmy pipehorse. I continued up the slope and stopped at the rock above Pygmy Rock to look for pygmy pipehorses and spotted a female juvenile.
I looked for more pygmy pipehorses at the top of the slope but found none. I continued to the outboard motor where I started my safety stop. After completing my safety stop I got out where I got in. Despite the small waves it was actually easy to get out. |
