Dive Details

Location

Date

Monday 6 April 2015

Time

8:46am - 10:07am

Details

Debbie and Ben wanted me to show them some cool stuff around Bare Island so the pressure was on. I figured I could at least show them a seahorse and maybe find some other things along the way so we would head for the seahorses first and then make our way back.

It was a little rough on the north west corner of the island so we got in just to the east of the "pool" and surface swam around the corner. We descended and swam at around 240° to the end of the wall and were only 10-15 metres to the east of the seahorses. As we arrived at the seahorses, PJ and the FDC crew were there. "Della" was easy to find and after much searching we couldn't find "Tomas". I know he was there 8 days ago so he may just be hiding.

We followed the reef to the west for a while before turning north across the sand to the shallow wall. We followed the shallow wall around to the west and then north. All the way I was looking for pygmy pipehorses but saw none.

We swam past the caves and I was hoping we'd see the eastern blue devil but we didn't which was disappointing. We came around the corner and up the ramp and I was still looking for pygmies but was unsuccessful.

I didn't find any pygmies on the rocks with the sea tulips but I did find one on the sand just a little further up the slope. I suspect this was the same one I saw last Sunday and also on Thursday. I took some fluorescence photos of it.

We then headed to the exit doing our safety stop along the way and go out just to the west of the ramp.

Buddy

Debbie Cooke and Ben Lumen

Seas

Choppy

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

81 minutes

Maximum depth

17.6 m

Average depth

12.4 m

Water temperature

21.2°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

3:20am

0.43m

High

9:24am

1.52m

Low

3:20pm

0.46m

High

9:39pm

1.68m

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 pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Della"). 16.5 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Della"). 16.7 m.
 

Flathead, Platycephalus. 14.2 m.
 

Nudibranch, Okenia hallucigenia. 13.9 m.
 

Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 11 m.
 

Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 9.6 m.
 

Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, showing fluorescence. 9.6 m.