Dive at Bare Island, La Perouse, NSW on Friday 18 December 2015

Dive Details

Location

Date

Friday 18 December 2015

Time

11:15am - 12:51pm

Details

We jumped in on the northern side of the island to the east of the "swimming pool", surface swam a short way and then descended to near the outboard motor. Visibility was around 5 metres.

We swam op over the shelf, in front of the boulders to the top of the slope. I had a quick look for pygmy pipehorses on the rocks at the top of the slope but found none.

We headed down the slope to the rocks with the pink sea tulips. I started looking on the second rock for the female pygmy that Kim had spotted on Tuesday. I found two pygmies, a male and a female. After checking my photographs I was able to confirm the female was the one from Tuesday (IL2015121401). The male (IL2015121801) was new.

I then checked the third rock for the tiny juvenile (IL2015120701) we'd seen last week. I found it in the same spot as I seen it on Tuesday.

I headed to the rock just above Pygmy Rock. I found the female pygmy (IL2015101402) straight away. While I was looking for the male, Kim asked me to follow her up the slope a bit to a low rock near the pink sea tulip rocks. She pointed out a tiny juvenile pygmy (IL2015121802).

I went back to the rock above Pygmy Rock. While looking for the male I found this weird looking crab crawling around in the algae. I don't know what species it is. I eventually found the male pygmy (IL2015121402).

I left Kim here and headed down to the white pygmies. I found both the male (IL2015081403) and the female (IL2015081402) who now only has white on her tail. I looked for the third pygmy I'd seen on Tuesday but couldn't find it.

I swam back up to Pygmy Rock and then the pink sea tulip rocks. I forgot about the pygmy on the low rock. Kim showed me another tiny juvenile (IL2015121803) on the other side of the second pink sea tulip rock from the other two pygmies. This made 9 pygmy pipehorses on one dive - a new record for me.

I swam up the slope and started my safety stop while swimming to the exit. I got out to the west of the ramp.

Buddy

Kim Dinh

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 metres

Duration

95 minutes

Maximum depth

13.1 m

Average depth

9.9 m

Water temperature

18.6°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

2:19am

1.38m

Low

8:03am

0.58m

High

2:18pm

1.58m

Low

9:01pm

0.36m

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.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121401). 9.3 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121801). 9.3 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015120701). 10 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015120701). 9.8 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121802). 10.3 m.

Crab. 10.3 m.

Crab. 10.6 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015101402). 10.5 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015101402). 10.6 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121402). 10.4 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081403). 12.7 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081402). 12.9 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081402). 12.8 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081403). 12.8 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081402). 12.8 m.

Nudibranch, Hypselodoris obscura. 12.6 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121402). 10.5 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121803). 9.6 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015120701). 10.1 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121803). 9.5 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121401). 9.5 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121801). 9.6 m.

Two Sydney pygmy pipehorses, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121401, IL2015121801). 9.5 m.

Two Sydney pygmy pipehorses, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121401, IL2015121801). 9.6 m.