Dive Details
Location
Date
Tuesday 16 August 2016
Time
11:02am - 12:39pm
Details
We jumped in on the western side of the island just to the south of the "swimming pool". We descended and headed west towards the isolated reefs. We hadn't gone very far when Kim spotted a tiny painted angler. I took some photos and only after looking at the photos did I realise there was a nudibranch right in front of it.
As we hit the isolated reefs, Michael pointed out a male pygmy pipehorse (IL2016081601). We moved on a little further and I spotted another male (IL2016081602) amongst some Carijoa. We swam around the isolated reefs for some time before turning around and heading east to the corner of the island.
In front of the caves Kim pointed out the squat lobster in the sponge and then she and Michael continued on. I took some photos of the squat lobster then moved on to the sponge with the great seahorse, Hippocampus kelloggi, and the small painted angler below it - which had moved since last week.
I continued around the corner looking for pygmy pipehorses along the way. At the rock with orange sponges (I need a better name), I found Kim's older painted angler and also saw Noel and Di. I took them back to the great seahorse and then continued on my way back to the exit.
I swam up the slope and found both juvenile painted anglers just before Pygmy Rock. The minuscule one was on the bottom and the larger one was still in the rocks. That was 5 painted angers on one dive.
I headed further up the slope and stopped at the rock with the purple sponge and found the female pygmy pipehorse ( IL2016080901) I'd seen twice last week. I tried to find the other pygmy on the same rock that Kim had found last Friday but could not see it.
I found the red male pygmy (IL2016081202) at the top of the slope but was not able to find the hairy one. I swam back to the exit doing my safety stop along the way. I exited to the west of the ramp.
Buddy
Kim Dinh, Michael McFadyen
Seas
Slight
Visibility
3 to 8 metres
Duration
96 minutes
Maximum depth
16.2 m
Average depth
11.8 m
Water temperature
16.3°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides
Low
12:49am
0.43m
High
6:39am
1.32m
Low
12:19pm
0.50m
High
6:51pm
1.76m
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.
Juvenile painted angler, Antennarius pictus, with nudibranch, Gymnodoris alba. 8.2 m.
Eastern spiny gurnard, Lepidotrigla pleuracanthica. 13.5 m.
Port Jackson shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni. 13.7 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016081601). 15.1 m.
Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 14.2 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016081602). 13.6 m.
Nudibranch, Cratena lineata. 15.5 m.
Squat lobster. 12.6 m.
Squat lobster. 12.6 m.
Great seahorse, Hippocampus kelloggi. 12.5 m.
Juvenile painted angler, Antennarius pictus. 13.2 m.
Flatworm. 12.5 m.
Painted angler, Antennarius pictus. 12.2 m.
Juvenile painted angler, Antennarius pictus. 10.5 m.
Juvenile painted angler, Antennarius pictus. 10.1 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016080901). 8 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016080901). 7.9 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016080901). 8.1 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016081202). 7.5 m.