Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 14 November 2015

Time

8:39am - 10:08am

Details

The water surface was quite choppy at The Leap but we had no trouble getting in. Daniel and I slid down the wall as we had cameras and Greg lept in. We descended and swam to the sand line at around 60°. There was a bit of surge on the way to the sand line but very little when we arrived just to the south east of Pygmy Rock. Visibility was 10 to 15 metres and it was very cold. I was so glad I was in my dry suit.

We turned left and headed toward The Steps. We came across the first weedy seadragon, a large juvenile (PT2015081601) at Seahorse Rock. This was the first weedy Daniel had ever seen. Between there and Southern Cross rock we found another large juvenile (PT2015062401) in the gap between the two large rocks.

We continued on to Seadragon Alley where we saw 4 more weedies: a female (PT2015011102), a male with eggs (PT2014030803), the female with the deformed body (PT2014030901) and another large juvenile (PT2015051001). It is great that so many juveniles have hung around this year.

After Seadragon Alley but before Big Rock, we found another male weedy (PT2014123002). He had some eggs but not a lot.

We swam past Big Rock and then up the reef to the pygmy pipehorses. I found both of them straight away as they had hardly moved since Wednesday.

We headed on to Diversity Rock, passing the basket star on the way. It was partially open, perhaps because there was a lot of particulate matter in the water.

We arrived at Diversity Rock and found "Noel" on the pink sea tulips and the male pygmy pipehorse (IL2015102401) in the Carijoa colony. "Arnold" was on the rock behind. I eventually found "Rosie" low down on Diversity Rock. The angler was on the rock to the left and "Greg" was on the other side of the large rock towards The Steps.

We headed off to look for "Di", finding a Nembrotha purpureolineata on the way. "Di" was there today. I had a look for "Joseph" but could not find him.

We swam to the boulders, did our safety stops and exited at The Steps. The exit was very easy.

Buddy

Daniel Livings, Greg

Seas

Choppy

Visibility

10-15 metres

Duration

88 minutes

Maximum depth

22.1 m

Average depth

14.9 m

Water temperature

15.1°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

4:06am

0.47m

High

10:35am

1.74m

Low

5:09pm

0.35m

High

11:07pm

1.34m

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.

Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 22.1 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015081601). 21 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015081601). 21.1 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 20.2 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015062401). 19.8 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015062401). 20 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015011102). 18 m.
 

Eggs on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030803). 17.6 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030803). 17.8 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030901). 16.9 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015051001). 16.4 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015051001). 16.5 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014123002). 15.3 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014123002). 15.3 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12.6 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 12.6 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 12.8 m.
 

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 13.6 m.
 

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 14.2 m.
 

Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus, ("Kim"). 13.2 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Noel"). 13.5 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Arnold"). 12.9 m.
 

Dwarf lionfish, Dendrochirus brachypterus. 13.9 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 14.1 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015102401). 13 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015102401). 13.1 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Greg"). 14.1 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Greg"). 14.2 m.
 

Nudibranch, Nembrotha purpureolineata. 13.1 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 11 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 10.8 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 10.8 m.