Dive at Bare Island, La Perouse, NSW on Saturday 19 December 2015

Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 19 December 2015

Time

9:35am - 11:06am

Details

It was so flat at Bare Island on Saturday morning that I decided to jump in on the western side of the island and go looking for seahorses. The entry was a little difficult not because of the swell but because there was almost no swell to take me out over the rocks. I had to crawl over the rocks.

I descended and swam at around 220° arriving near the end of Deep Wall. I followed what was left of Deep Wall and headed west. I went past the spot where the seahorses used to be. They still weren't there.

I headed a little further before heading north east to get back to the shallow wall. Once I hit the shallow wall I turned west again and followed it around the corner. As I was approaching the north west corner near the caves I saw a huge ray on the sand. My wife tells me I should put a matchbox in my photos to show scale but this was so large that I think a VW Beetle would be more appropriate.

I continued around the corner and had a look for the nudibranchs Kim had shown me a week ago but could not find them. I then swam on to the white pygmies, finding both the male (IL2015081403) and the not so white female (IL2015081402). I look for the other pygmy but could not find it.

I headed up the slope and at the rock above Pygmy Rock I found the female (IL2015101402) and male (IL2015121402) pygmies. Kim and Mandy came along and I pointed out the female to Mandy and Kim pointed out the male to me (even though I had already found and photographed it ;) ).

I swam further up the slope and on the low rock below the pink sea tulip rocks I found the juvenile pygmy (IL2015121802) Kim had shown me yesterday.

I then went to the rocks with the pink sea tulips and found the juvenile pygmy (IL2015120701) on the third rock; the other juvenile (IL2015121803) and the female (IL2015121401) and male (IL2015121801) on the second rock. I also saw Peter videoing a red indianfish near the juvenile pygmy on the third rock. I showed him the pygmy but he was set up for wide-angle.

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

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 15 metres

Duration

90 minutes

Maximum depth

17.3 m

Average depth

11.2 m

Water temperature

17.5°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

3:20am

1.42m

Low

9:14am

0.59m

High

3:24pm

1.50m

Low

9:58pm

0.37m

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.

Pineapplefish, Cleidopus gloriamaris. 17.3 m.

Nudibranch, Neodoris chrysoderma. 12.4 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081403). 12.1 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081403). 12.2 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081402). 12.1 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015101402). 10 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121402). 9.8 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015101402). 9.9 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121802). 9.7 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015120701). 9.6 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121801). 8.8 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121401). 9 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121401). 9 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121803). 9 m.

Nudibranch, Gymnodoris sp. 9.2 m.

Red indianfish, Pataecus fronto. 9.5 m.