Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 30 September 2017

Time

11:08am - 12:59pm

Details

Dama and Roney joined me for the start of the dive but would be swimming directly to Big Rock so I wouldn't have their company for the dive.

It was very calm at The Leap and I was able to get in from the low platform. The swell directly in front of the low platform was perhaps 30-45cm. We grouped on the surface and then descended. I swam at around 60° to the sand line and arrived at the north-western end of the amphitheatre. Visibility was around 10 metres, water temperature around 16°C and there was very little surge. I turned left and headed towards The Steps.

When I got to Ian's Pygmy Rock I looked for and found the little red female pygmy pipehorse. It was calm and photographing her was easy. I looked to see if there was a male and found one nearby.

I swam past Seahorse Rock and on to the large rocks before Bent Stick Rock. I found the male weedy seadragon with the piece missing from his head under the overhang where he's been for the last 2 dives. I noticed the school of striped catfish under the next rock. I found the other male whose eggs have started to hatch just out from the overhang.

Just below Bent Stick Rock I found a smaller weedy.

I swam on to Southern Cross Rock and started to look for pygmy pipehorses. I found a cryptic female and then a pinkish male nearby. I then found another cryptic female and a pinkish female. Finally I found the yellowish male.

I continued on to Seadragon Alley and found one weedy seadragon near the start. At the end of Seadragon Alley I found the male pygmy pipehorse pretty much where he'd been on Monday. I initially couldn't find the female but then found her at the other end of the rock.

A little further on I found the two red widebody pipefish. They were still in the same alga as Monday.

Between the pipefish and Big Rock I found another weedy seadragon.

At Big Rock I found my red male pygmy pipehorse down from where I'd first seen him. I then looked for a female and found a pretty pink one not far from the male. I then looked at the other end of Big Rock for Roney's male pygmy pipehorse and partner. I found the male quite quickly but it took me some time to find the female.

I swam down to the rock below Hand Rock and found the black painted angler on top of the rock. I also found a male and female pygmy pipehorse lower down on the rock behind the white honeycomb sponges.

I headed along the reef towards The Steps and then up to New Basket Star Rock. The basket star was on its usual sponge. I had a quick look for red widebody pipefish before making my way to Diversity Rock. On Diversity Rock I found the female pygmy pipehorse and had a hard time finding the male. I eventually found him. He was the 17th pygmy pipehorse I'd seen on the dive.

I swam on to Little Big Rock hoping to find my pygmy pipehorses to add to my tally but couldn't find any. On the rock adjacent to Little Big Rock I found the yellow red-fingered angler in the exact same spot it has been for the last few weeks.

I continued along the reef to the rock where the larger black painted angler has been. Yesterday it had moved 2 rocks closer to Little Big Rock and I checked there first. I saw a cuttlefish and took a couple of photos and then was basically pushed out of the way by another diver with a camera who wanted to take photos of the cuttlefish which was swimming with two others. He then lay all over the rocks where the angler had been. I had to wait for him to move before I could look for the angler. The angler was back to the same spot it was when Roney first spotted it.

I followed the sand line to the other pair of red widebody pipefish and they were both there. As I was taking photos the pushing other diver and his buddies swam by so I was careful not to let them see what I was photographing.

From here I swam to the boulders via Di's Rock. On reaching the boulders I ascended to 5 metres and started my safety stop while swimming to Spit Rock. I finished my safety stop and then swam to the exit where Roney was waiting to take my camera. The exit was easy despite the extra weight of the pony.

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

110 minutes

Maximum depth

21.1 m

Average depth

14.7 m

Water temperature

16.0°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

4:03am

1.16m

Low

9:36am

0.71m

High

4:10pm

1.45m

Low

10:59pm

0.54m