Dive Details |
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Location |
The Leap, Kurnell, NSW |
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Date |
Saturday 25 July 2015 |
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Time |
10:44am - 12:27pm |
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Details |
The Leap was so good yesterday I went again today. Conditions looked even better at the entry point with the only waves coming from boats. I jumped in from the low shelf, descended and swam at around 60° reaching the amphitheatre in line with Pygmy Rock. Visibility was 10 to 15 metres again.
I searched Pygmy Rock for around 20 minutes but did not find any pygmies and so headed off. I spotted the male weedy seadragon with eggs just the other side of the flat top rock where it had been yesterday.
I continued on towards The Steps. I had another look for "Pierre", the male pot-bellied seahorse, on the flat rock he's been on but could not find him. I looked around some of the other sponge covered rocks but he wasn't visible there, either.
I swam on and just before Seadragon Alley I found the juvenile weedy seadragon that had been near "Pierre" a month ago. It was feeding on the sand.
I found 3 weedies in Seadragon Alley: The male that I saw yesterday, the juvenile I have seen a number of times and the female I saw yesterday.
I took the same path I'd taken yesterday, rising up from the sand line past Big Rock to the pygmy pipehorse. This time I found the rock and the pygmy straight away.
I swam past the deeper basket star and then tried to find the spot I'd seen "Rosie" yesterday. I was in the correct area but I just couldn't find the right rock. I looked and looked to no avail. I did see a new (new to me) weedy seadragon in the area.
After much looking I gave up and headed to the boulders for my safety stop. I exited a The Steps feeling a bit disappointed but vowed to do a second dive at The Steps to look for "Rosie". |
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Seas |
Slight |
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Visibility |
10 to 15 metres |
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Duration |
102 minutes |
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Maximum depth |
21.5 m |
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Average depth |
14.5 m |
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Water temperature |
15.8°C |
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Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand |
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Tides at Botany Bay AEST |
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location. |
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High |
2:14am |
1.28m |
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Low |
8:30am |
0.60m |
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High |
3:10pm |
1.46m |
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Low |
9:38pm |
0.73m |
Camera gear |
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Camera |
Nikon D300 |
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Lens |
Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D |
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Housing |
Ikelite 6812.3 |
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Lens port |
Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41 |
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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.
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Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 20.8 m.
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Eggs on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 20.6 m.
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Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 20.7 m.
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Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 20.9 m.
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Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 19.2 m.
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Feeding juvenile weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 19.1 m.
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Juvenile weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 19 m.
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Eastern red scorpionfish, Scorpaena jacksoniensis. 18.8 m.
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Striped catfish, Plotosus lineatus. 18 m.
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Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 17.2 m.
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Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 17.1 m.
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Juvenile weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 17.4 m.
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Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 17.1 m.
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Eastern smooth boxfish, Anoplocapros inermis. 17.4 m.
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Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 16.3 m.
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Eastern smooth boxfish, Anoplocapros inermis. 14.6 m.
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Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 12.1 m.
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Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 12.2 m.
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Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 13.1 m.
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Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 11.9 m.
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Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 10 m.
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