Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on Sunday 31 May 2015

Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 31 May 2015

Time

1:23pm - 2:40pm

Details

It was calm again at The Leap. I was able to jump in from the low platform. Ben jumped in from the top platform. At the entry point the visibility was at least 5 metres. We descended and headed at a bearing of around 60° reaching the amphitheatre right at Pygmy Rock. Visibility here was around 10 metres although it was quite dark due it being overcast.

I searched and searched Pygmy Rock for the small pygmy pipehorse I have been seeing there. It took me almost 15 minutes to finally find it and even then I think I got lucky as it was tucked in behind some weed.

We headed off towards The Steps. After we past Seahorse Rock I indicated to Ben that we were at the start of the rock where "Pierre", the pot-bellied seahorse, has been so he could try to find "Pierre" himself. As I drifted over the rock I noticed "Pierre" hiding behind a sponge. It was going to be a challenge for Ben. It obviously wasn't too much of a challenge as Ben spotted "Pierre"'s tail wrapped around the sponge.

We continued on to Seadragon Alley where we came upon a couple of other divers taking photos of weedy seadragons which meant we had to wait - which was fine. We ended up seeing 5 weedies altogether, including one of the juveniles that have been around the last few weeks and the one with the wavy body. I had also seen the other three before.

Ben was on air and was at the end of his No Decompression Limit so we had to go shallower. We headed up to the top of the reef to around 10 metres and made our way through the kelp and sponge covered rocks. Ben spotted a Miamira magnifica nudibranch on one of the rocks. I'm not sure if this is the same one others have seen of late. I know I haven't seen one in over a year.

We continued along at 10 metres until we were close to The Steps and then went to the Boulders to do our safety stop. We actually missed the Plesiastrea colonies and ended up right at the exit point. I swam back and forth at 5 metres to make sure I had the right spot. After 5 minutes we headed for the exit at The Steps.

Buddy

Ben Layman

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10 metres

Duration

77 minutes

Maximum depth

21.2 m

Average depth

15.2 m

Water temperature

18.6°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

12:41am

0.58m

High

6:27am

1.42m

Low

12:21pm

0.53m

High

6:54pm

1.72m

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.