Dive Details

Location

Date

Thursday 12 October 2017

Time

11:08am - 1:01pm

Details

This was my first dive in 5 days and only my second in 11 days. I was pretty desperate for a dive after a horror couple of weeks. The Leap would be the therapy I needed. I lent Roney my 15L tank with Nitrox so he'd be able to stay with me for most of the dive.

We jumped in from The Leap, Roney from the shelf and me from the low platform. We swam out on the surface before descending. We swam to the sand line at around 60°. At the sand line the visibility was around 8 metres, water temperature was just under 16°C and the surge was gentle. The tidal current was quite strong. We turned left and headed towards The Steps.

We got to Ian's Pygmy Rock and I initially couldn't find the small pink female pygmy pipehorse. I eventually found her low down on the rock. I looked for the male but could not find him.

I swam on past Seahorse Rock to the flat rocks. I found the male weedy seadragon with the hole in his head under the overhang. He's still surviving and his eggs are developing. I found another weedy nearby, probably a female. I found a third just below Bent Stick Rock and then a fourth between Bent Stick Rock and Southern Cross Rock.

At Southern Cross Rock, Roney checked the top of the rock while I looked at the side. I found the pinkish male pygmy pipehorse first and then found one of the pink females, the whitish male and the lighter female.

Roney had gone on ahead and went behind. I found a weedy after the rock after Southern Cross Rock and then just before the start of Seadragon Alley I found a small weedy on the edge of the sand.

At then end of Seadragon Alley I found the pink male pygmy pipehorse on the rock with the green sponges but before I took any photographs Roney pointed out a small velvetfish hiding under a weed. I took a few photographs and went to carefully move the weed when Roney got the same idea. Having two divers swimming for it was too much for the velvetfish and it shot off. I went back to the pygmy and tried to find the female pygmy without success. We swam on to the pair of red widebody pipefish.

We swam along the sand line to Big Rock. I found my pink male pygmy pipehorse and his partner which was made harder by Roney flashing his torch on the rock. I then went to the other end of Big Rock and found the partner of Roney's male pygmy but initially couldn't find the Roney's pygmy itself. Roney was getting frustrated and kept flashing his torch on the rock but I eventually found the pygmy. I found the black painted angler on top of the rock below Hand Rock and the male pygmy pipehorse on the side of the same rock. I couldn't find the female pygmy pipehorse.

Roney went on ahead while I swam on to New Basket Star Rock and then on to Diversity Rock where I found the male pygmy pipehorse. I searched for the female but could not find her.

I continued on to Little Big Rock and couldn't find any pygmy pipehorses. I photographed the orange red-fingered angler on the adjacent rock.

I swam along the reef and looked for Roney's black painted angler along the way but could not find it. The pair of red widebody pipefish were in their usual place.

I headed to the boulders and ascended to 5 metres to start my safety stop. I swam to Split Rock where I finished my safety stop and then swam to the exit. The exit was east.

Buddy

Roney Rodrigues

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 8 metres

Duration

113 minutes

Maximum depth

21.5 m

Average depth

15.4 m

Water temperature

15.5°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

2:13am

1.28m

Low

7:57am

0.57m

High

2:27pm

1.65m

Low

9:22pm

0.42m