Dive Details

Location

Logged dive number

1734

Date

Tuesday 17 December 2019

Time

10:57am - 1:23pm

Buddy

Cody Sheridan

Seas

Strong current at times and moderate surge

Visibility

15 to 20 metres

Duration

146 minutes

Surface interval

 1 day 23:37 (days hh:mm)

Maximum depth

21.9 m

Average depth

13.9 m

Water temperature

19.9°C
                                       

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

12:56am

1.31m

Low

6:28am

0.57m

High

12:54pm

1.79m

Low

7:45pm

0.33m

Details

Cody joined me for today's dive and we planned for it to be a long one. I would be using my twin 10.5L tanks and Cody his sidemounted 10.5L tanks. My problem was that I only had 32% in one of my tanks and the other tank had air. This would most likely mean I'd end up in deco before the end of the dive. I decided I'd start on air and switch to 32% as my NDL approached zero.

It was quite warm so we took our tanks and weights down to the water first and then walked down half dressed. It was much cooler this way but still quite warm.

There was too much water over the low platform so I slid down the wall and swam out to wait for Cody and cool down. When Cody swam out we descended and swam at around 60° towards the sand line. The current was quite strong and we had to keep correcting our course. We arrived right at the start of the Field of Pygmies. (I can start calling it that again after finding a pair of pygmy pipehorses on the first rock on Saturday). The visibility was at least 15 metres but the current was quite strong. The water temperature was around 20°C.

We swam to the first rock and I started to look for the pair of pygmy pipehorses I had found on Saturday. Neither were in the spots I'd seen them. After looking for around 5 minutes I finally spotted the male (IL2019121401) to the side of the rock. I was not able to find the female at all.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019121401). 21.3m.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019121401). 21.5m.

Cody pointed out a male Weedy Seadragon with eggs just to the south-west of the rock. I took some photographs and we moved on.


Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 21.5m.


Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 21.7m.


Eggs on the tail of a male Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 21.7 m.

I looked around a number of other rocks in the area hoping to find more pygmies but found none. I'm sure there are some there it is just a matter of spending the time looking for them but with so many rocks t takes a long time. I was also mindful I was on air for the first part of the dive and I didn't have much NDL.

We continued towards The Steps. I spotted a small Green Moray as we went. I also checked all the rocks I have previously seen pygmy pipehorses on but still found none.


Green Moray, Gymnothorax prasinus. 21.4m.

We stopped at the rock behind Seahorse Rock I looked for the red male pygmy I had first seen in October. I hadn't seen him on the last couple of dives here but I spent more time looking all around the rock. I finally spotted what I thought was him towards the other end of the rock, although he looked more pink. I took some photographs and looked for a female. I ended up finding another male and it turns out this second male was the one (IL2019102001) was the one I'd seen before. The other one (IL2019121701) was new. Seeing there were two males, I looked around for females but could not find any.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019121701). 20.3m.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019102001). 20.6m.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019121701). 20.3m.

We continued on to the overhang. I spotted "Clyde" under the overhang as I approached. He had eggs; brand new eggs. I suspect the eggs were fresh as of today. I noticed that a female was swimming nearby under the overhang. There was also a reaper cuttlefish under the overhang.


Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, ("Clyde"). 20.6m.


Eggs on the tail of a male Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, ("Clyde"). 20.8m.


Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, ("Clyde"). 20.3m.


Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, ("Clyde"). 20.4m.


Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 20.4m.


Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 20.5m.


Reaper Cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 20.2m.

I came out from under then overhang and swam to the next gap in the rocks looking for the smaller weedy that has been around. I couldn't see it there. I looked closer to the sand line but still couldn't find any other weedies.

I stayed a bit higher and headed towards and over Southern Cross Rock and then on to Seadragon Alley. I need to move fast as I was approaching NDL.

At the start of Seadragon Alley I spotted a juvenile Comb Wrasse. It seems a bit early in the season for juveniles.


Comb Wrasse, Coris picta. 18.2m.

I swam through Seadragon Alley looking for weedies but only found another Reaper Cuttlefish. I also spotted a Blotched Hawkfish. Cody caught up to me by the end of Seadragon Alley. Right at the end of Seadragon Alley I spotted a Weedy Seadragon.


Reaper Cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 17.1m.


Blotched Hawkfish, Cirrhitichthys aprinus. 16.3m.


Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 16.8m.


Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 16.7m.

We continued along the sand line to Big Rock. I had a look for "Ouz", the yellow White's Seahorse near Big Rock but couldn't find her.

We swam on to Long Rock. I spotted a female (IL2019121502) and two male pygmy pipehorses (IL2019121501, IL2019112401) on the long rock.


Female Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019121502). 14.6m.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019121501). 14.6m.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019121501). 14.6m.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019112401). 14.3m.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019112401). 14.3m.

On the next rock I spotted the Doughboy Scallop.


Doughboy Scallop, Mimachlamys asperrima. 14.3m.

I swam up to the orange Red-fingered Anglerfish with eggs. I looked for the eggs but could not see them. I spotted a Nembrotha purpureolineata on a nearby rock.


Red-fingered Anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 12.7m.


Nudibranch, Nembrotha purpureolineata. 12.6m.

We continued to the rock with the pair of pink pygmy pipehorses. I found the male (IL2019100601) on the side of the rock where he usually is. The female (IL2019100503) was on top of the rock.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019100601). 13.9m.


Female Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019100503). 13.7m.

We headed to Diversity Rock and I looked for the Miamira magnifica nudibranch but couldn't see it. I haven't seen it since the start of the month. I then swam up to the basket star.


Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 12.4m.

I looked for and found the black Painted Anglerfish. While I was photographing it, Cody called me back to point out a greenish male pygmy pipehorse (IL2019121702) he'd found. I looked around on the same rock and spotted a small pink female (IL2019121703). That made 10 different pygmy pipehorses for the dive.


Painted Anglerfish, Antennarius pictus. 12.1m.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019121702). 12.5m.


Female Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019121703). 12.6m.


Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019121702). 12.7m.

We swam on to the seahorses. "David" was in the grey sponge. "George" was on a sponge on the south-eastern side of the rock. He's usually hiding low down on the rock. "Skye" was in a purple sponge on the Little Big Rock side of the rock.


Male Pot-bellied Seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("David"). 12.6m.


Male Pot-bellied Seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("George"). 12.2m.


Female Pot-Bellied Seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Skye"). 12.5m.

I headed towards Di's Rock and spotted a Weedy Seadragon up on the reef.


Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12.1m.


Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12.3m.

At Di's Rock I headed down to Pipefishes Hole. I looked in the hole but did not see any pipefishes. I spotted "Teardrop" next to the kelp near Pipefishes Hole. He still had eggs but it wasn't quite 6 weeks since he acquired them.


Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, ("Teardrop"). 13.4m.


Eggs on the tail of a male Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, ("Teardrop"). 13.4m.


Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, ("Teardrop"). 13.6m.

I continued along the sand line to the rock where the Pot-bellied Seahorses had been last year and found the orange Red-fingered Anglerfish on the rock where Leah and John had pointed it out on 7 December.


Red-fingered Anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 11m.


Red-fingered Anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 11.2m.

I swam to the rocks near the exit and looked for the orange Red-fingered Anglerfish I'd spotted on Saturday and seen again on Sunday. I couldn't find it so I ascended to Split Rock. I had a small amount of deco on my Perdix. I cleared deco on the Garmin before getting to 5 minutes. My Atom wanted me to do over 30 minutes. I figured 10 minutes would be enough but did just over 12 minutes before swimming underwater to the exit. The exit was easy.

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D500

Lens

Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED

Housing

Ikelite 6812.5

Lens port

Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41

Strobe(s)

2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161