Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 14 March 2015

Time

10:33am - 11:56am

Details

It was meant to be a 1.2m SE swell but some big sets came through as I was getting ready to get in. Even though it was close to low tide I didn't use the low platform and instead slid down the wall. It was an easy entry and I swam out a bit before descending. The visibility was around 5 metres as I head out at around 60°.

I arrived at the amphitheatre and made my was to Pygmy Rock. There was a lot of unattached kelp on the sand and around the rocks including the base of Pygmy Rock. The visibility was a little over 5 metres but the surge was quite strong. I searched Pygmy Rock for pygmy pipehorses and was getting quite worried when I hadn't found one after 5 minutes of searching. It is not a large rock and the surge should have made them more visible. I was already thinking of reasons why I couldn't find any - lost my knack, I have been hassling them, the rough weather, etc. - when finally after 7 minutes of looking I found a medium sized male on top of the rock. What a relief! I searched some more but that was the only one I could find.

I moved off and looked for pygmies on some of the surrounding rocks but found none. I did see a weedy seadragon that I have seen a number of times in the area of the amphitheatre. In the past he's had eggs but he had none which is not surprising for this time of year.

I headed on towards Seahorse Rock. I found "Rosie" and "Pierre" on the rock behind seahorse rock. "Pierre"'s belly was not as inflated as it has been so he's probably given birth but he may also be pregnant again or still.

I made a short stop at the rock where "Southern Cross" used to live in the home that another seahorse had moved it but saw none. Just past this rock I found a weedy seadragon that I have seen in this same area for the last 5 dives.

I saw another 3 weedy seadragons as I swam through Seadragon Alley, all ones I have seen previously.

I continued on along the sand line to the basket star and saw a fiddler ray along the way. Just past the basket star I cut in over the reef and checked out some of the rocks on top of the reef for pygmy pipehorses and anglers. I found a Hypsledoris obscura nudibranch but that was about it.

I swam to the boulders and started my safety stop as I swam to The Steps. It didn't take long before I swam past the Plesiastrea colonies. After my safety stop I exited at The Steps.

Seas

Surgy

Visibility

5-8 metres

Duration

83 minutes

Maximum depth

21.5 m

Average depth

16.2 m

Water temperature

21.1°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

3:00am

1.49m

Low

9:45am

0.60m

High

3:41pm

1.21m

Low

9:28pm

0.65m

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.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 20.5 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 19.3 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Pierre"). 19.6 m.
 

Pygmy leatherjacket, Brachaluteres jacksonianus. 16.9 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 15.9 m.
 

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 12.9 m.
 

Nudibranch, Hypselodoris obscura. 10.1 m.