Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 11 November 2017

Time

12:20pm - 1:46pm

Details

For our second dive of the day we drove down to The Monument. I was hoping to show Malcolm some more pygmy pipehorses and also see "Sunshine", the female pot-bellied seahorse.

We got in at the small bay area to the south east of the point and waded out. Once we were ready we descended to the reef and then veered right to the top of the wall. We swam past Slope Rock and I spotted Dama's red male pygmy pipehorse on the way but kept swimming as I knew we'd be back. We went straight to the rock where the orange angler has been near the top of the wall but it was not there. I also looked around the two rocks for pygmy pipehorses but found none.

We headed down to Carijoa Rock (which has lost most of its Carijoa colonies). I found the grey red-fingered angler but had some trouble getting Malcolm to recognise it. It was upside-down which may have made seeing it as an anglerfish a little more difficult. Eventually he figured it out. I looked all over the rock for pygmy pipehorses but found none.

We swam up to Slope Rock and the surrounding area. I found Dama's red male pygmy pipehorse and after taking a few photographs I showed him to Malcolm. While Malcolm was photographing him, I went off to look for the other male pygmy I'd found recently. I found another smaller male on the same rock and then found the original male. The new pygmy was quite pretty. When Malcolm finished with Dama's red male, I showed him the other two males and took some more photographs of Dama's red male.

We headed up to Seahorse Rock and I had a quick look for the seahorses and spindle cowries but could not find them. We also looked in the Capnella colonies for the egg cowries but could not find them.

We swam back down the reef and continued on to Split Rock. Just past Split Rock I found the rock where the white female pygmy had been and found her. I showed her to Malcolm who couldn't see her at first.

We continued along the reef to Four Pygmies Rock and I looked for the grey red-fingered angler on a rock a little farther along but could not find it. We then headed up the wall and around the corner. I was hoping to find one of the other anglers but wasn't able to.

We swam west until I located the rock where "Sunshine" has been and I found the rock and then found her. I was relieved that she was still around after not finding her last week. After taking a few photographs we headed to the wall and ascended to 5 metres and started our safety stops. We swam west for a while before turning south and swimming towards the flagpoles. Once the depth got to around 1 metre we stood up and waded out to the rocks.

Buddy

Malcolm Nobbs

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 8 metres

Duration

86 minutes

Maximum depth

13.0 m

Average depth

9.5 m

Water temperature

18.9°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

3:19am

1.29m

Low

8:56am

0.64m

High

3:18pm

1.61m

Low

10:11pm

0.39m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D500

Lens

Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED

Housing

Ikelite 6812.5

Lens port

Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41

Strobe

2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161

Photographs

Depth information, where present, indicates the depth of the camera when the photograph was taken and can be used to approximate the depth of the subject.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 10.2 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 10.3 m.