Dive at Bare Island, La Perouse, NSW on Wednesday 27 January 2016

Dive Details

Location

Date

Wednesday 27 January 2016

Time

11:07am - 12:50pm

Details

It was close to high tide and we didn't feel like staggering over the uneven rocks to get into the water so we went down the ramp. We surface swam some ways and then descended to the sand. Visibility was around 5 metres pretty good considering the conditions of the last few days.

We swam to and past the outboard motor, up over the ledge and along to the top of the slope. We headed down the slope and stopped briefly at the second sea tulip rock. Heather was there photographing one of the juvenile pygmy pipehorses on the lower side of the rock. I spotted the female pygmy pipehorse (IL2015121401) on the top of the rock. Heather came up to see the female while Kim started to photograph the juvenile. When it was my turn I spotted a second juvenile I turned away to tell Kim only to lose it again. Fortunately, Kim spotted it. Three pygmies already and we were only just into the dive.

We continued down the slope. We moved pretty quickly as we wanted to get to New Pygmy Rock. We stopped briefly at the white male pygmy pipehorse (IL2015081403) and while he was obvious we couldn't initially see any others. We swam on. I stopped at the rock before New Pygmy Rock and found the pink male pygmy pipehorse (IL2016012405) John had found on Sunday. We were up to 5 pygmies now.

I swam on to New Pygmy Rock. Kim had already spotted the white male (IL2016011901) and the juvenile (IL2016011904) next to it. She then spotted another juvenile (IL2016012701). I found the male (IL2016011903) on the west end of the rock and we both spotted the female (IL2016011902) at the same time. I looked for the other pair I'd seen on Sunday but could not find them. Still, 5 pygmies on New Pygmy Rock was pretty good. Our count was now up to 10.

While I continued to look for the other two pygmies on New Pygmy Rock, Kim went up closer to the caves to look for more. She returned shortly after finding a male (IL2016012702) and took me up to see it. Kim left me to head back up the slope. I had one more look at New Pygmy Rock before heading back up the slope myself.

I stopped at the white male pygmy pipehorse (IL2015081403) and looked for the female. I found a female (IL2016012404) which was the same as the one I found on Sunday. I also found the other male (IL2016011905) on the adjacent rock. My count was now 13 pygmies, a new record for me for a single dive.

I headed back up the slope to the second sea tulip rock and took some more photographs of the two juveniles and the female. As I was heading to the top of the slope I noticed another diver photographing another pygmy (IL2016012703) so I waiting until he finished and then took some myself. This took my count to 14. I swam back down to the second sea tulip rock and pointed out the juveniles to the photographer to return the favour and then I made a bee line to the exit doing my safety stop along the way. I got out at the ramp.

Buddy

Kim Dinh

Seas

Slight

Visibility

3 to 5 metres

Duration

103 minutes

Maximum depth

14.4 m

Average depth

11.1 m

Water temperature

19.4°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

5:00am

0.49m

High

11:20am

1.70m

Low

5:47pm

0.38m

High

11:53pm

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.

Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 4.7 m.

Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 6.8 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121401). 9.8 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012401). 10.1 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121901). 10.2 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121901). 10.3 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012405). 13.7 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012405). 13.8 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011901). 14.1 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011903). 14.1 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011902). 14.3 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011903). 14.1 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012701). 13.9 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012701). 13.8 m.

Decorator crab. 14.1 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011904). 14 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011903). 14.1 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (). 13.9 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012702). 13 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011904). 14.1 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012405). 13.7 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012404). 13.1 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012404). 13.2 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081403). 13 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015081403). 13.1 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011905). 13.2 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011905). 13.1 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121901). 10 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012401). 10.1 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015121401). 9.6 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012703). 9.3 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016012703). 9.1 m.