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

Dive Details

Location

Date

Tuesday 23 June 2015

Time

7:28pm - 8:45pm

Details

Night dive with Scubathlon.

We got in on the northern side of the island just to the west of the ramp and descended to the sand. The upper layer of water was cool and cloudy but it was warmer at the sand and visibility was around 5 metres. We headed south west over the sand to the outboard motor. As we swam over the shelf we saw the velvetfish in the same spot it had been on the previous dive.

We followed the sand around to the top of the slope and headed west down the slope. Part way down the slope I found the first pygmy pipehorse that Kim had shown me on the first dive. I pointed it out to Eric and Nikita.

We then headed over to the rocks with the pink sea tulips where I found the two pygmy pipefish together. They weren't fighting this time and we hanging out together. I showed them to Eric and Nikita

We continued down the slope and I was able to find the next two pygmy pipehorses from the previous dive. I pointed them out to my buddies.

Further down the slope I found the other pygmy pipehorse from the previous dive. This made 6 for the dive. At this point the others caught up with us so it was crowded with lots of lights. Tomas showed me a bubble snail he'd found so I showed him the pygmy pipehorse which he showed to his student. She's pretty luck to see a pygmy pipehorse so early in her diving experience.

Nikita and I continued further down the slope, Eric stayed with the others as the battery in his torch was getting low. I managed to find two more pygmy pipehorses together. They were small like the others but it is good to see more of them and hopefully we'll get to watch them grow. We headed back up the slope and Nikita spotted a red indianfish. On the way back I spotted two of the pygmies we'd seen on the way down. We didn't go back via the two on the rock with the pink sea tulips but I couldn't find one of the others. Hopefully, I will locate it next time. As we got near the edge of the shelf we saw the velvetfish was still there. We did our safety stop along the sand as we headed back and got out near where we got in. Another great dive and equalling my record of 8 pygmy pipehorses on one dive.

Buddy

Eric Kh and Nikita Dondenko

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 metres

Duration

77 minutes

Maximum depth

12.9 m

Average depth

9.1 m

Water temperature

16.2°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.