Dive Details

Location

Date

Thursday 22 June 2017

Time

10:49am - 12:29pm

Details

We got in the water just to the west of the ramp and surface swam towards the corner. We descended to the sand. Visibility was between 3 and 5 metres, water temperature just under 18°C and there was a gentle surge.

We swam to the outboard motor, over the ledge and along to the top of the slope. I was looking for pygmy pipehorses along in front of the boulders. We headed down the slope and all the way to Juvy Rock. I continued to look for pygmies in all the usual places but found none.

At Juvy Rock I found the male great seahorse in the orange finger sponge at the base of the rock. I pointed him out to Roney. I looked around the rest of the rock for the female, and for pygmies, but didn't find either.

Kim showed me a photo on her camera of a orange painted angler and beckoned me to follow her. She took me over to the rock with the large wooden pylon lying next to it (I think this is the rock Michael McFadyen calls Seahorse Rock). The tiny angler was on the eastern side of the rock.

I swam all around the area trying to find the female seahorse ending up back at Juvy Rock where I found her hanging on to a flat red sponge. My search had got me separated from Kim and Roney so I set out to look for them.

I headed to the corner and just after I got around the corner I saw them coming back along the reef. Kim indicated she was heading back so Roney and I headed west along the reef towards the Isolated Reef. I was looking everywhere for pygmies but couldn't find any. I did find some nice nudibranchs but no pygmies.

We turned and headed east towards the corner. After going around the corner, Roney showed me a pygmy pipehorse he'd found on the top of the rock where the pair of white pygmies had been for a long time. It was difficult to photograph as it was exposed to the surge.

We swam back to Juvy Rock and I pointed out the female great seahorse to Roney. Roney indicated he was down to 50 bar and swam back to the exit. I noticed the male great seahorse was now on unattached kelp. I moved the kelp closer to the orange sponge in the hope he'd move to the sponge. I left him there.

I headed up the slope and saw a dwarf lionfish on the way up, just before Pygmy Rock. I swam to the top of the slope, along in front of the boulders and started my safety stop as I swam to the exit. I exited at the entry point.

Buddy

Roney Rodrigues, Kim Dinh

Seas

Slight

Visibility

3 to 5 metres

Duration

100 minutes

Maximum depth

14.5 m

Average depth

10.7 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

12:24am

0.41m

High

6:19am

1.53m

Low

12:15pm

0.38m

High

6:46pm

1.96m