Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on Tuesday 10 March 2015

Dive Details

Location

Date

Tuesday 10 March 2015

Time

8:49am - 10:11am

Details

The swell was a lot less today than it had been on Sunday and the water looked clearer despite it being overcast. I could see the sand patch out from The Leap which is at a depth of 5 metres. I slid down the wall and confirmed the visibility was around 5 metres. I then descended and headed off in an east-north-easterly direction (~60°). I arrived right at the amphitheatre and headed straight to Pygmy Rock. The visibility was between 5 and 10 metres, and closer to 10 metres.

It took me a few minutes to find the first pygmy pipehorse and I then noticed a second immediately below it. I spent around 15 minutes looking around the rest of Pygmy Rock but did not find any others.

I headed on to Seahorse Rock. "Rosie" and "Pierre", the pot-bellied seahorses were at either end of "Rosie"'s rock. I'm hoping "Pierre" is here to stay.

I swam on to Seadragon Alley only doing a cursory look for seahorses where "Southern Cross" used to live. I found a weedy seadragon just before Seadragon Alley. This male has been in the same location for the last 4 dives and I have seen him since May last year.

At the start of Seadragon Alley I came across to weedy seadragons together. One was a male I last saw a little over a week ago and the other I last saw on 1st February this year.

I saw another two weedies in the middle of Seadragon Alley: a male I last saw at the start of the month and another I saw a week ago.

There were two more weedies just past the end of Seadragon Alley: a male I last saw on Friday and the other I saw on Sunday.

I continued along the sand line as far as the basket star and then cut through to the top of the reef. I saw lone Moorish idol there that was being harassed by a white-eared drummer. I swam up to the shallow basket star and found a sea hare next to it.

From here I swam to the boulders via some of the sponge covered rocks. Once at the boulders I started my safety stop while swimming to the Plesiastrea colonies. On the way I spotted another two Moorish idols. I wonder if they are the same two my buddy pointed out to me on Sunday.

After my safety stop I exited at The Steps.

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

82 minutes

Maximum depth

21.9 m

Average depth

16.3 m

Water temperature

21.0°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

5:58am

0.50m

High

12:01pm

1.45m

Low

6:02pm

0.50m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D7000

Lens

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D

Housing

Ikelite 6801.70

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.