Dive Details
Location
Date
Saturday 26 December 2015
Time
11:51am - 12:52pm
Details
We jumped in at the point on the mainland to the north west of the island and surface swam to roughly above the isolated reef. When everyone was ready we descended to the sand and swam south to the reef.
We swam around the reef and then headed east towards the island. We saw 4 red indianfish either on the isolated reef or on the way back.
Once we hit the main reef we swam north. The current here was quite strong. We eventually reached the caves on the north west corner of the island.
We followed the reef around the corner to the bottom of the slope. As we headed up the slope we first hit the white male pygmy pipehorse (IL2015081403) and his drab partner (IL2014081402).
We continued up the reef to the rock above pygmy rock and I pointed out the two pygmy pipehorses there, the female (IL2015101402) and male (IL2015121402).
On the low rock just before the rocks with the pink sea tulips I pointed out the tiny juvenile (IL2015121802).
We swam to the rocks with the pink sea tulips and I pointed out the juvenile on the 3rd rock (IL2015120701), the juvenile on the second rock (IL2015121901) and the pair on the other side of the second rock (IL2015121401 and IL2015121801).
We ascended to 5 metres and started our safety stop as we swam to the exit. We got out on the northern side of the island to the west of the ramp.
Buddy
Mic Glushankov
Seas
Slight
Visibility
5 to 10 metres
Duration
61 minutes
Maximum depth
18.6 m
Average depth
12.4 m
Water temperature
17.0°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides at Botany Bay AEDT
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.
Low
3:10am
0.39m
High
9:41am
1.91m
Low
4:20pm
0.22m
High
10:18pm
1.39m
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.
Red indianfish, Pataecus fronto. 17.6 m.
Red indianfish, Pataecus fronto. 17.8 m.
Male Sydney cardinalfish, Apogon limenus, with eggs in mouth. 17.7 m.
Male Sydney cardinalfish, Apogon limenus, with eggs in mouth. 17.6 m.
Roughy, Trachichthys australis. 16.9 m.
Roughy, Trachichthys australis. 16.7 m.
Red indianfish, Pataecus fronto. 17.1 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081403). 12.7 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081402). 12.8 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015101402). 10.5 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121402). 10.5 m.
Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121802). 10.3 m.
Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015120701). 9.9 m.
Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121901). 9.7 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121401). 9.4 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121801). 9.3 m.
Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 3.8 m.