Dive Details
Location
Date
Saturday 9 January 2016
Time
8:47am - 10:09am
Details
It had been a very rough week, with big swells and a lot of rain, so conditions were not going to be all that good. It was still a bit rough at Bare Island with big swell hitting the eastern side of the island and coming under the bridge. The swell was also hitting the western side of the island and coming around the corner to the north of the island. The tide was at its peak so the safest place to get in was the ramp. I jumped in and descended immediately to get away from the rough surface. I was pleasantly surprised that the visibility was 2 to 3 metres as I was expecting much worse.
I followed the kelp to the boulders, past the outboard motor, up over the shelf and then followed the boulders to the top of the ramp. There was quite a bit of surge but the visibility was still 2 to 3 metres.
I headed down the slope and stopped at the top of the second rock with pink sea tulips. Despite the poor conditions I managed to find the female pygmy pipehorse (IL2015121401) pretty quickly. I looked for the male but could not find it. Photographing the pipehorse with the surge was another matter.
I swam to the other side of the rock to look for the juveniles but could not find either. I then went to the bottom of the 3rd rock to look for the juvenile there and couldn't find it either.
Just down from the rocks with the pink sea tulips I looked on the low rock for the tiny juvenile pygmy that had been there. This was yet another pygmy I couldn't find. At the rock just above Pygmy Rock I looked for the pair of pygmies that have been there and I couldn't find them. I had only found 1 out of a possible 8 pygmies. I was hoping it was just the poor conditions.
I swam all the way down the slope to the white male (IL2015081403) and drab female (IL2015081402) pygmy pipehorses and thankfully found them both. The visibility here was only 2 metres at best with a lot of fine particulate matter in the water.
I turned and headed back up the slope, stopping at each pygmy location in the hope of finding the missing ones but didn't see another pygmy until I was back at the second rock with pink sea tulips and there I only found the female again. While I was there, Duncan and Charlie swam by with their French friends but conditions were too poor to show them the pygmy.
I headed to the top of the ramp and then followed the boulders to the exit, doing my safety stop along the way. I exited at the ramp.
Seas
Much surge
Visibility
2 to 3 metres
Duration
82 minutes
Maximum depth
13.7 m
Average depth
9.8 m
Water temperature
19.9°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides at Botany Bay AEDT
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.
Low
2:00am
0.46m
High
8:35am
1.78m
Low
3:14pm
0.33m
High
9:04pm
1.36m
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). 10 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081403). 13.1 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081402). 13.3 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081402). 13.2 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081402). 13.2 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081403). 13.3 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121401). 9.8 m.