Dive Details

Location

Date

Tuesday 26 May 2015

Time

11:39am - 12:39pm

Details

The swell appeared to be much the same today as it had been on Sunday. It was forecasted to be less. We jumped in at The Leap, descended and swam at around 60° to the sand line. Visibility at the sand line was barely 5 metres and there was a lot of surge.

We swam to pygmy rock. I found the small pygmy pipehorse almost straight away as it was pretty much in the same spot at Sunday. I had a look for the sea spider but could not find it.

We continued on to Seahorse Rock. Just past Seahorse Rock I indicated to Ben that we were over the spot where "Pierre", the male pot-bellied seahorse, was now living so he could see if he could find him on his own. He found him quite quickly and before I did. The surge made it difficult to take photographs of "Pierre". We swam on to Seadragon Alley where we saw 4 weedy seadragons. Three of the weedies were male and all I had seen before, 3 of them for over 12 months.

Tim was running low on air so we headed up to shallower water. I spotted one of the juvenile weedy seadragons I had seen before. I then spotted a medium sized giant cuttlefish that was looking quite playful so I got some video of it.

We continued on and I found another weedy seadragon that I don't believe I have seen before. It was missing its second appendage and I have seen another one without a second appendage but the spots on the snout did not quite match.

We headed straight to the boulders from here and did our safety stop as we swam to The Steps. Just past the Plesiastrea colonies we ascended and exited at The Steps.

Buddy

Ben Layman, Tim

Seas

Surgy

Visibility

3 to 5 metres

Duration

59 minutes

Maximum depth

21.3 m

Average depth

14.9 m

Water temperature

18.8°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

1:59am

1.47m

Low

8:45am

0.61m

High

3:09pm

1.34m

Low

8:54pm

0.83m

Video

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.

Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 20.8 m.
 

Sea star macro, Asterodiscides truncatus. 20.6 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Pierre"). 19.2 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 15.7 m.