Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 12 September 2015

Time

9:56am - 11:24am

Details

After not finding neither this elusive red pygmy pipehorse nor "Rosie", the pot-bellied seahorse, I came back today to dive The Steps. It was another beautiful spring day and the sun was shining. As I walked down the steps for the dive I saw the eastern water dragon sunning itself on the landing just like last week. There was a second one on the rocks below. How cool!

It was calm at the entry point and very easy to get in. I descended to the sand line, through the kelp and headed straight to the seahorses. Just before the seahorses I spotted a Nembrotha purpureolineata nudibranch. It was probably the same one I saw last week.

At the seahorses, I found "Noel" on the pink sea tulips, "Arnold" in the sponges on the rock behind and "Rosie" was there, too. (I have included a photograph below with both "Rosie" and "Arnold" (well most of him) to show how much larger "Rosie" is than "Arnold".) The orange red-fingered angler was also there. I found the drab male pygmy pipehorse (IL2015091101) and nearby was a drab female (IL2015091201). I guess the male wasn't the partner of the red pygmy pipehorse.

Nearby I found the Miamira magnifica nudibranch and two weedy seadragons, the male (PT2015061401) I saw yesterday and another (PT2015072501).

I swam up to my other pygmy pipehorses and found both the female (IL2015072601) and the male (IL2015070501) without too much trouble. Conditions were a little better for photography today.

I swam back to the seahorses for one last look for the red pygmy pipehorse. I can't believe I couldn't see a large red pygmy pipehorse but can find two drab ones and an angler. I gave up and headed for The Steps.

I found "Di" on her usual rock and she was out in the open like yesterday. I then swam on to the boulders, did my safety stop and exited at The Steps. The lowish tide made the exit easy. I was hoping to see the eastern water dragons on the way up but a few divers had exited 15 minutes or so ahead of me so perhaps they scared them off.

Seas

Slight with some surge

Visibility

10 metres

Duration

87 minutes

Maximum depth

14.0 m

Average depth

11.5 m

Water temperature

17.9°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

1:39am

0.37m

High

7:43am

1.43m

Low

1:33pm

0.45m

High

7:49pm

1.64m

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.

Nudibranch, Nembrotha purpureolineata. 12 m.
 

Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 12.9 m.
 

Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 12.7 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.1 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.2 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.3 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015061401). 13.6 m.
 

Eggs on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015061401). 13.9 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015061401). 13.6 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091101). 12.3 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091101). 12.4 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091101). 12.3 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091101). 12.3 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091101). 12.5 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091101). 12.5 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091201). 12.4 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091201). 12.3 m.
 

Male pot-belied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Noel"). 12.9 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015072501). 13.4 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015070501). 11.9 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015070501). 11.9 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12.1 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12 m.
 

Nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 13.1 m.
 

Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 12.7 m.
 

Pygmy leatherjacket, Brachaluteres jacksonianus. 11.9 m.
 

Pot-bellied seahorses, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie", "Arnold"). 11.8 m.
 

Male pot-belied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Arnold"). 12 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.1 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091101). 12.3 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091201). 12.2 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091201). 12 m.
 

Juvenile female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 10 m.