Dive Details

Location

Date

Monday 26 December 2016

Time

9:04am - 10:40am

Details

The was a northeasterly wind and northeasterly swell but Bare Island was well protected and it was like a lake. I got in on the northern side of the island just to the west of the ramp. I surface swam for a short way before descending to the sand. Visibility was at least 5 metres but there was some particulate matter in the water.

I swam past the outboard motor, up over the ledge and then along in front of the boulders to the top of the slope. I headed down the slope past the rocks with purple sea tulips and stopped at the rock above Pygmy Rock to look for pygmy pipehorses but found none. I continued down the slope to Juvy Rock and started looking for the seahorses. I found the male in an orange sponge almost immediately even though he was only visible from one side. I then hunted for the female. While I was looking for the female an overly friendly blue groper deliberately bumped me to get my attention. He then followed me for the rest of the dive. I eventually found the female seahorse to the north of the two orange sponges where I have seen her on a couple of occasions. With the seahorses found I had time to go around the corner to look for the two pygmy pipehorses I'd seen on the edge of the reef.

I swam to the corner in front of the caves. The visibility here was over 10 metres with some particulate matter. I could pretty much sea the surface from 13 metres. It was cold with the temperature dropping to 17°C. There was no surge at all. I followed the reef to the west until I got to the edge. I found the rock where the pygmy pipehorses had been but after much searching I could not find them. I headed back slowly towards the caves looking for pygmy pipehorses along the way but found none. I checked the squat lobsters on the way but could only see the one.

I came back around the corner and located the seahorses again. They were around 5 metres apart. The visibility had dropped slightly but I could still see the sponges of one seahorse from the other. I headed slowly up the slope looking for pygmy pipehorses and finally found a pair right on the edge of the group of rocks above Pygmy Rock. This pair were initially apart but the female drifted over to the male until he'd peck at her and she'd drift off again. They did this 2 or 3 times while I was watching.

I was running low on air so I headed up the slope and along in front of the boulders and started my safety stop before I reached the outboard motor. Visibility had dropped to around 5 metres which was not surprising as the tide was going out. I continued my safety stop as I swam to the exit and got out where I got in.

Seas

Calm

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

95 minutes

Maximum depth

15.0 m

Average depth

11.2 m

Water temperature

16.8°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

12:42am

0.53m

High

7:19am

1.59m

Low

1:54pm

0.52m

High

7:39pm

1.28m