Dive Details
Location
Date
Tuesday 3 November 2015
Time
11:00am - 12:35pm
Details
The water surface was quite choppy due to the winds but there wasn't much swell. We jumped in next to the low patform, Ben from the top and I slid down the wall. On the sruface the visibility looked fantastic.
We descended and headed off at around 60°. As we approached the amphitheatre we were buzzed by a small school of huge kingfish. They swam around us twice before finally disappearing. They were beautiful.
We arrived in the middle of the amphitheatre and swam to the sand line before turning towards The Steps. Between Seahorse Rock and Southern Cross Rock we found two large juvenile weedy seadragons (PT2015062401 and PT2015081601).
We continued on to Seadragon Alley. At the start of Seadragon Alley we found a male (PT2014030803) and a female (PT2015011102) weedy seadragons swimming together. The male had a lot of eggs. A little further on was another female (PT2013122201). At the end of Seadragon Alley was the female with the deformed body (PT2014030901) and another large juvenile (PT2015051001). Just past Seadragon Alley, Ben spotted a small giant cuttlefish.
We continued along the sand line past Big Rock and then moved up off the sand line to the rock with the pygmy pipehorses. I spotted the female (IL2015072601) and the male (IL2015092701) but didn't initially point them out to Ben to give him a chance to find them himself. He found the female but couldn't find the male.
We headed back to the sand line, past the basket star and on the Diversity Rock. Just before Diversity Rock I spotted the Miamira magnifica and the angler on the same rock. On Diversity Rock itself, I found, "Noel" and the two pygmy pipehorses (IL2015091201 and IL2015102401). "Arnold" was on the rock behind Diversity Rock and "Rosie" was floundering on the sand between the first and second rocks to the right of Diversity Rock. I coaxed her onto the first rock.
We headed directly to the rock where "Di" and "Joseph" have been but were not able to find either of them, even after searching the nearby rocks.
We swam to the boulders, did our safety stop and exited at The Steps.
Buddy
Ben Layman
Seas
Slight
Visibility
15+ metres
Duration
94 minutes
Maximum depth
21.2 m
Average depth
14.3 m
Water temperature
16.2°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides at Botany Bay AEDT
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.
High
2:39am
1.22m
Low
8:13am
0.68m
High
2:34pm
1.50m
Low
9:30pm
0.51m
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.
Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 20.3 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015062401). 19.5 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015062401). 19.5 m.
Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 19.4 m.
Green moray, Gymnothorax prasinus. 18 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015011102). 16.8 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2013122201). 16.5 m.
Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 15.6 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030901). 16 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015051001). 15.1 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015051001). 14.3 m.
Giant cutllefish, Sepia apama. 14.6 m.
Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 15 m.
Tube anemone, Pachycerianthus sp. 12.6 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12.4 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 12.4 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 12.3 m.
Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 13.1 m.
Nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 13.2 m.
Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus, ("Kim"). 13.2 m.
Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus, ("Kim"). 12.8 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Noel"). 13.1 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 13.3 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Noel"). 13 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Arnold"). 12.5 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015102401). 12.8 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091201). 12.8 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015102401). 12.7 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015102401). 12.8 m.