Dive Details

Location

Logged dive number

1718

Date

Sunday 20 October 2019

Time

11:36am - 1:53pm

Buddy

Mark Walters, Rachael Chidgey, Cody Sheridan

Seas

Strong current at times and mild surge

Visibility

3 to 8 metres

Duration

138 minutes

Surface interval

 22:38 (hh:mm)

Maximum depth

21.9 m

Average depth

14.3 m

Water temperature

17.2°C
                                       

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

1:13am

1.22m

Low

6:50am

0.64m

High

1:24pm

1.59m

Low

8:16pm

0.51m

Details

For today's dive I was joined by Cody, Rachael, and Mark. I was diving with my 300 bar 12L tank plus my 7L pony. I wanted to empty the pony so it could go in for hydro and the 300bar tank so Cody could test filling it to 300bar with his compressor. Cody was diving with 2 sidemounted 10.5L tanks and Mark with twin 12.2L tanks. Rachael just went with a single 12.2L tank.

It was a warm day so I took my gear down first and then I was able to walk down with my drysuit only around my legs. It was a much more pleasant way to get down to the entry.

We jumped in (I got in from the low platform) and swam out on the surface. When we were ready we descended and headed at around 40° to the sand line. We arrived on the edge of the amphitheatre. The visibility was only just over 5 metres and there was mild surge. The water temperature was around 17°C. We turned left and headed along the sand line.

There was some current behind us so the going was easy. I looked on various rocks where I have previously seen pygmies, just as Bob & Lucy Rock and Ian's Pygmy Rock but could not find any. I seem to have lost the knack for finding them.

Between Ian's Pygmy Rock and Seahorse Rock I spotted a Weedy Seadragon. I pointed it out to Rachael who was videoing a school of Old Wives.

We continued to Seahorse Rock. I looked on one of the rocks behind Seahorse Rock thinking it was the rock that Cody had found a pygmy past time. It wasn't the same rock (which I realised later) but I found a bright red male pygmy pipehorse (IL2019102001). I pointed it out to Cody and Rachael (I don't know where Mark was) and looked around for a female. I found her on the other side of a sponge and while I was photographing her, a Half-banded Seaperch photobombed.

We headed on and as I was swimming to the overhang to check on "Clyde", Rachael beckoned me to look under the overhang and see "Clyde" ;). He had relatively new eggs. Beyond the overhang was a female, perhaps the layer of the eggs. Rachael, her job done, continued on ahead.

I looked on the rocks above for pygmy pipehorses but found none.

We continued on to Southern Cross Rock. I looked for pygmies on the side of the rock but found none.

We followed the sand line to Seadragon Alley. As we swam through Seadragon Alley I spotted a large juvenile Weedy Seadragon.

We swam out of Seadragon Alley and I started to look for red Stigmatopora sp. pipefish. I couldn't find any.

We headed up the slope towards Big Rock. On the way I spotted a large Green Moray and a sea star.

At Big Rock I had a look for "Ouz", the yellow White's Seahorse and found her in the sponge I'd first found her in. It is good she's hanging around.

We continued along the reef to the long rock. We found the male pygmy pipehorse (IL2019100502) that Cody had pointed out to me 2 weeks ago. I also found a tube-building amphipod on a nearby rock.

We swam past the orange scallop with blue eyes and on to the rock with the pink female pygmy pipehorse that Nicolas found and Cody showed me 2 weeks ago. I found the male (IL2019100601) that I found 2 weeks ago and then eventually we found the female (IL2019100503).

Cody was on air and had to go shallow. I stayed lower on the reef and swam on to Diversity Rock. I found the Miamira magnifica nudibranch in its usual spot.

I headed up towards the basket star and spotted the orange Red-fingered Anglerfish. I could only find one of them.

After visiting the basket star I swam over to where the black Painted Anglerfish has been. It was still there and I got some photographs.

The visibility started to drop as I approached the rocks where the Pot-bellied Seahorses are. There were a lot of other divers and they were stirring up the bottom.

I found "David" on the white honeycomb sponge and "Skye" on the south-eastern side of the rock. "George" was hiding low down on the corner.

I headed along the top of the reef as far as Di's Rock looking for Red-fingered Anglerfish. I found none.

I swam down to the sand line at Pipefishes Hole. I couldn't see any pipefishes in the hole.

I looked in the nearby kelp for the large juvenile Weedy Seadragon but could not see it.

I headed along the sand line towards the last large rock on the sand line before the exit. I was looking for the male weedy in the area bit could not find him. Cody was there, sitting higher in the water which gave him a better vantage point. He spotted the male weedy in the kelp. His eggs looked quite old.

I headed for the rocks in front of the exit and had a quick look for Red-fingered Anglerfish before heading to the boulders and starting my safety stop at Split Rock. Cody was there doing his deco stop.

I finished my safety stop and headed for the exit. On the way I spotted an Eastern Cleaner Clingfish on one of the rocks. I took a few photographs and continued to the exit.

The didn't have much trouble getting out.

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(s)

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.

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 20.8m.
 

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 21.1m.
 

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019102001). 20.3m.
 

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019102001). 20.2m.
 

Female Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019102002), with Half-banded Seaperch, Hypoplectrodes maccullochi. 20.1m.
 

Female Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019102002). 20.1m.
 

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019102001). 19.9m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, ("Clyde"). 20.4m.
 

Eggs on the tail of a male Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, ("Clyde"). 20.5 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, ("Clyde"). 20.4m.
 

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 20.3m.
 

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 20.3m.
 

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 17.2m.
 

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 16.9m.
 

Green Moray, Gymnothorax prasinus. 15.6m.
 

Sea star, Petricia vernicina. 13.8m.
 

Female White's Seahorse, Hippocampus whitei, ("Ouz"). 13.9m.
 

Female White's Seahorse, Hippocampus whitei, ("Ouz"). 14.1m.
 

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019100502). 13.8m.
 

Doughboy Scallop, Mimachlamys asperrima. 14.3m.
 

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019100601). 13.8m.
 

Female Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019100503). 14.2m.
 

Nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 13.8m.
 

Red-fingered Anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 12.7m.
 

Red-fingered Anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 12.8m.
 

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 12.2m.
 

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 12.1m.
 

Painted Anglerfish, Antennarius pictus. 11.8m.
 

Female Pot-Bellied Seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Skye"). 12.1m.
 

Male Pot-bellied Seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("David"). 12.5m.
 

Male Pot-bellied Seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("George"). 12.3m.
 

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12.1m.
 

Eggs on the tail of a male Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12.4 m.
 

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12.3m.
 

Eastern Cleaner Clingfish, Cochleoceps orientalis. 3.3m.