Dive at Bare Island, La Perouse, NSW on Tuesday 23 June 2015

Dive Details

Location

Date

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Time

3:38pm - 5:07pm

Details

The water around Bare Island was flat and the water looked inviting. Kim and I got in on the northern side of the island just west of the ramp. The surface water was quite cold and the visibility was not great. We swam on the surface for a bit before descending to the sand. On the sand the visibility was at least 5 metres and the water was a bit warmer.

We swam over the outboard motor and up over the shelf. I spotted a velvetfish lying on the sand not far from the start of the shelf. We continued past the boulders to the slope. We headed west down the slope.

Not far down the slope (just before the rocks with the pink sea tulips) Kim pointed out a pygmy pipehorse. This one was a bit larger that the ones we have been seeing lately but still small compared to the adults we used to see. I think she had seen it before.

Kim pointed out another pygmy pipehorse on one of the pink sea tulip rocks. We had seen one in this exact location before and it is quite possible this was the same one. At this point I was feeling a little bit inadequate. Debbie had crowned me Pygmy King and yet the Nudi Queen had spotted 2 pygmies and I hadn't found one.

We continued down the slope to the rock just up from Pygmy Rock where I had seen a pygmy on most of the recent dives. If I could find this one again at least it would be a consolation. I managed to find it after around 5 minutes of searching. I felt a bit better but was still down in the score - not that we were keeping score. We checked out Pygmy Rock but found no pygmies there. On the next rock down from Pygmy Rock I was lucky to find another pygmy pipehorse. This one didn't mind having its photo take I too.

We turned and headed back up the slope. Just after Pygmy Rock but before the previous pygmy pipehorse. I found another one. This was my third for the dive. I also found the other one again.

On the way back I went to the pink sea tulip rocks to check out the second pygmy Kim had pointed out and was surprised to find there were actually two there attached to the same alga. I'm not sure if it was a reaction to my lights and strobes but it appeared they started fighting with each other.

Further up the slope I located the first pygmy again just to make sure I knew where it was.

I continued up the slope and around past the boulders. As I approached the edge of the shelf I saw that the velvetfish was still there. I continued along the sand doing my safety stop as I went and got out at the entry point. Overall a great dive seeing 6 pygmy pipehorses, 4 of which I found, and only 2 short of my record of 8 pygmies one one dive.

Buddy

Kim Dinh

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 metres

Duration

88 minutes

Maximum depth

11.5 m

Average depth

8.8 m

Water temperature

16.3°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

12:19am

1.55m

Low

7:04am

0.56m

High

1:21pm

1.35m

Low

7:01pm

0.79m

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.