Dive Details
Location
Date
Wednesday 25 July 2018
Time
8:08am - 9:51am
Details
I'd had an unsettling incident at work yesterday and was in deed of a good dive to cheer me up. With high tide at 6:50am I would be diving on an outgoing tide. As it's been calm of late and there's been no rain, I hoped the visibility would hold. The bay was calm and the entry/exit at The Steps looked easy.
I jumped in and put my fins on in the water before swimming out on the surface. I swam out until I was over the kelp and then I descended. The visibility was around 10 metres and probably a bit more and it looked great. The water temperature was up a bit, too, to 16°C. With an outgoing tide I expected it to be a bit colder with the water coming out of the bay. I turned right and headed towards Big Rock.
I stuck to the sand line as I wanted to look for red Stigmatopora pipefish. The pair that used to be on the sand line are likely to still be around, considering the one at the end of Seadragon Alley has been there for around a year. I also wanted to find some weedy seadragons.
I got to the high rocks where the orange red-fingered anglerfish has been. It was in the same spot it was on Sunday but was facing the other way.
I dropped back to the sand line and found a weedy seadragon straight away. It was the one with only one pectoral appendage.
I stayed along the sand line until I reached the rock where "Di", the pygmy pipehorse, has been. I found her straight away and it didn't take me long to find the new male.
I headed back to the sand line and found a Gunther's butterflyfish near the large orange finger sponge. There was another weedy seadragon nearby. I followed it along the sand line towards Little Big Rock. Just before Little Big Rock I came across the male weedy with eggs.
As I was already at Little Big Rock I looked for the salmon red-fingered anglerfish. It was still on the sand line side but was higher up the rock and partially hidden.
I swam up to the rock behind Little Big Rock to look for the pygmy pipehorses. I found them both on the side of the rock not far from where each of them were on Sunday. Neither were in good spots for photography.
I headed back to the sand line and came across another weedy seadragon. I also found a comb wrasse and suspect it is the same one I've seen in that spot over the last few months.
I found my juvenile orange painted anglerfish in its usual spot on the rock near Diversity Rock. I really need to take another shot with my finger so I can see how much it has grown.
I looked on Diversity Rock for pygmy pipehorses. I found the male hiding behind the same sponge as it had been on Sunday. I looked for the female and the juvenile and believe I found the juvenile. I'll have to compare my photographs to be sure if it is the previous one or a new one.
I headed past the basket star and checked out the red algae for pipefish before looking for the grey red-fingered anglerfish. The anglerfish was in the same spot as Sunday but had changed its orientation.
I swam up to New Basket Star Rock and started to look for Mike's grey red-fingered anglerfish. All of a sudden it started to get dark and I thought it was dirty water coming out of the bay with the outgoing tide. I looked up to see the massive school of salmon swimming around and over me. There would have been 10 to 100 thousand fish in the school and they were stirring up the bottom even though they were a few metres above it. They buzzed me for at least 5 minutes and then swam off.
I headed straight to the rock with the one-eyed seahorse and found her on the eastern side of the rock.
I swam back just above the sand line and was looking for more anglerfishes and pygmy pipehorses but I found none by the time I came back to the grey anglerfish.
Back at Diversity Rock the male pygmy pipehorse was still hiding behind the sponge and the other pygmy had moved a few centimetres.
I briefly visited the painted anglerfish and then swam along the sand line towards Little Big Rock. Just before Little Big Rock I found a pygmy pipehorse (IL2018072501). I looked for a second and found it (IL2018072502).
I took a few more photographs of the salmon anglerfish before heading back up to the rock behind Little Big Rock to have another go at the pygmies. I couldn't find either of them but I didn't have a lot of time.
I swam past Di's Rock and on to the last lot of pygmies. I found the female but couldn't find the male.
I headed quickly to the orange red-fingered anglerfish as I was running low on air. I took a few quick photographs before heading for the boulders.
As I was approaching the boulders but still low down in the kelp I spotted "Betty", the female grey nurse shark that's been around recently, swimming directly towards me. This would be the perfect opportunity to get some good footage of her. I turned the GoPro on and filmed her come in. She was not aggressive at all but maintained her line. I moved back slightly and she turned to the left slightly so she passed by within centimetres and brushed one of my lights with her pectoral. It was an awesome experience.
I ascended to 5 metres and started my safety stop. I was nearly at Split Rock already so I didn't have far to swim. I did my safety stop all aglow from the experience with Betty. I swam underwater to the exit and climbed out on the rocks.
Seas
Slight with some surge
Visibility
5 to 15 metres
Duration
103 minutes
Maximum depth
13.9 m
Average depth
11.6 m
Water temperature
16°C
Dive Profile from Garmin Descent Mk1
Tides at Botany Bay AEST
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.
Low
12:59am
0.52m
High
6:43am
1.27m
Low
12:15pm
0.59m
High
6:57pm
1.71m
Video
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.
Red-fingered anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 11.3 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12.4 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2018061401). 11.5 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2018072003). 11.8 m.
Gunther's butterflyfish, Chaetodon guentheri. 13.1 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 13.2 m.
Eggs on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 13.6 m.
Red-fingered anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 12.7 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2018072001). 11.7 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2018072002). 11.6 m.
Comb wrasse, Coris picta. 13.4 m.
Juvenile painted anglerfish, Antennarius pictus. 12.7 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2018071201). 12.8 m.
Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2018062701). 12.9 m.
Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 11.8 m.
Red-fingered anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 12.2 m.
Red-fingered anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 12.4 m.
Female White's seahorse, Hippocampus whitei. 11.5 m.
Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 12.9 m.
Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 12.8 m.
Red-fingered anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 12.4 m.
Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2018062701). 12.7 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2018072502). 13.2 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2018072501). 13.1 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2018061401). 11.4 m.
Red-fingered anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 10.7 m.