After another couple of days of rough seas in Sydney it was not going to be great conditions at The Leap for my mandatory weekend dive. There was a 2 metre south-south-easterly swell which is not too bad for Kurnell but also a secondary easterly swell that causing the occasional large sets of waves to hit The Leap. I just had to time between these sets for my entry down the wall next to the low platform.
Once successfully in, I descended and headed to the sand line at around 60° reaching the south-eastern end of the amphitheatre. Visibility here was 3 to 5 metres and there was a lot of surge.
I swam to Pygmy Rock and started my pygmy search in the same spot I'd last seen a pygmy pipehorse two weeks ago. I found one, probably the same one, in the same spot almost immediately. The surge made it a bit tricky to photograph but I got a couple of good shots.
I then searched the rock for others when I spied a sea spider (pycnogonid) on a sponge. I had seen sea spiders at The Leap before but never out in the open like this one. Again, the surge increased the photography degree of difficulty.
I headed towards Seahorse Rock. Along the way I found two weedy seadragons. One which I have seen a number of time since the end of last year and another which I don't believe I have seen previously.
When I reached Seahorse Rock I did a sweep looking for new or relocated seahorses but found none. I knew that "Rosie" was all the way down at The Monument but "Pierre" was still missing in action. I saw no seahorses on or around Seahorse Rock.
I continued on towards The Steps. While swimming over one of the large low sponge covered rocks I was pleasantly surprised to see a male pot-bellied seahorse. On closer inspection it looked a lot like "Pierre" (and was confirmed to be "Pierre" once I checked my photos). While "Rosie" was 60-800 metres from where she started, "Pierre" had only travelled 20 metres or so. It is great he's still around. I wonder if he'll move on in search of a female.
I swam on to Seadragon Alley. Here I found 4 more weedy seadragons, three I had seen before, including the juvenile from 2 weeks ago and the one with the wavy body that has been around for some time. The other appears to be a new one I haven't seen before.
I was starting to get low on air so after Seadragon Alley I headed up to the top of the reef and continued on past the shallow basket star. I then headed up to the boulders and did my safety stop while swimming to the exit.
I got out at The Steps which was only a small challenge getting my timing right between the easterly sets. |
