Dive Details

Location

Date

Thursday 15 June 2017

Time

8:52am - 10:44am

Details

We both got in from the low platform at The Leap and swam out some ways. Surface visibility was still a little murky but it had improved a bit from Monday. We descended and swam at around 30° to the sand line arriving at the Amphitheatre. Visibility was 15 metres or so, the water temperature was around 18.5°C and there was very little surge. The tidal current was quite strong which made going easy except when trying to take photographs. We turned left and headed towards The Steps.

I stayed up a bit from the sand line to find the red-fingered angler that Roney found on Monday just back from Ian's Pygmy Rock. Mike was just a head of me when I found it but he didn't hear my calls and kept swimming. I checked Ian's Pygmy Rock for pygmies but found none.

I swam on to Seahorse Rock and looked for the giant cuttlefish under the ledge but they were no longer there.

I continued on and found the juvenile weedy seadragon just before Bent Stick Rock and then I found Mike just after Bent Stick Rock. He was photographing an adult weedy seadragon. I also found the Ceratosoma brevicaudatum nudibranch and showed it to Mike.

At Southern Cross Rock I found the white male pygmy pipehorse in the Carijoa. He's looking quite yellow. I showed Mike. There was another weedy seadragon on the sand on the next rock.

I swam through Seadragon Alley and found one weedy seadragon. I looked in the red alga clumps throughout seadragon alley for pipefish but didn't find any until the very end where I found the one I'd seen on Monday that had an isopod parasite. The surge hadn't been noticeable at all until trying to take photographs of the pipefish in the red alga. The alga moves quite a lot even in gentle surge.

After Seadragon Alley Mike and I looked in the red alga clumps for pipefish and all we found was a Nembrotha purpureolineata in one clump. There was another weedy seadragon on the sand.

Mike ascended a bit as he was air and I was on nitrox. I got to Big Rock first and started photographing the ornate ghostpipefish. When Mike came down I left him have a go as I knew he'd either be in deco or close to it. I went to the other side of Big Rock to look for pygmies and pipefish. I found none and came back as Mike was finishing. He was well into deco and so was heading for the shallows. I spent some time with the ghostpipefish before moving on myself.

At the sloping rock I found the pink male pygmy pipehorse and then I found a small female. I don't think the female was the usual one I see.

I stuck to the sand line looking for pipefish until I got to Old Basket Star Rock and then headed up to Miamira Rock, the basket star and the pair of red widebody pipefish. Again the gentle surge made photography difficult. I looked around the area for other pipefish but found none.

I checked out Diversity Rock for the red male pygmy pipehorse but couldn't see it for a second time.

I swam on to Little Big Rock just as George, PJ, Ian, Garry and Stuart caught up to me. I found 2 pygmy pipehorses in the Carijoa on Little Big Rock and pointed them out to George. George said he saw a third one but I couldn't see it. I then found the orange red-fingered angler on the adjacent rock and pointed it out to PJ.

I was getting a bit low on air and headed for the boulders. Once at 5 metres I started my safety stop as I swam to Split Rock. I pretty much finished my 5 minutes as I arrived at Split Rock and so after getting my camera ready for exit I swam to the exit. I was surprised to see Graeme Heard waiting at the exit. I didn't need his help getting out but it was good to see him.

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10 to 15 metres

Duration

112 minutes

Maximum depth

20.4 m

Average depth

14.7 m

Water temperature

17.5°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

6:18am

0.52m

High

12:23pm

1.34m

Low

5:52pm

0.74m