Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on Wednesday 29 November 2017

Dive Details

Location

Date

Wednesday 29 November 2017

Time

12:43pm - 2:21pm

Details

Both The Steps and the The Leap were relatively calm despite the easterly swell. We both got in from the low platform and surface swam out. When we were ready we descended and headed to the sand line at around 30°. We arrived to the south east of Lucy and Bob Rock. Visibility was around 10 metres and the water temperature was around 16°C. We turned left and headed towards The Steps.

We hadn't gone very far when I spotted what I thought was a nudibranch in a southern sea fan, Sphaerokodisis australis. On closer inspection I could see it was two anemones wrapped around the axes. The anemones may be in the genus Nemanthus, but I'm having difficult determining their species as they haven't been well studied.

We swam past Ian's Pygmy Rock and Seahorse Rock and on to the flat rocks covered in sponges. I found the male weedy seadragon with damaged head under the overhang as usual. His head continues to heal. I looked around for the other weedy seadragon but could not find it.

We continued on to Southern Cross Rock where I found only 3 pygmy pipehorses, all males. I don't know where the females were.

We headed into Seadragon Alley and I spotted a small crested horn shark near the start and then a weedy seadragon in the middle.

At the end of Seadragon Alley I found the two pygmy pipehorses. The female was still hiding behind the sponge and the male had moved to the shore side of the rock. The pair of red widebody pipefish were in their usual alga and the female great seahorse was on the rock where we first saw her.

We continued on towards Big Rock. I swam up to the rock with the three pygmy pipehorses. I found the male immediately and then the juvenile soon after. It took me a while to find the female. I pointed them out to Ron.

We swam on to Big Rock. I found the pair of pygmy pipehorses on the top of the rock and pointed them out to Ron. I then swam down and found my red male pygmy but couldn't initially find the female. I pointed him out to Ron and then went back to the two on top. After Ron moved on I went back to my red male and then spotted the female. I called Ron over to show her to him and lost her again. We checked out the white/pink red-fingered angler on the rock below Hand Rock.

We swam along the top of the reef to New Basket Star Rock and then past Diversity Rock. Between Diversity Rock and Little Big Rock I spotted the Nembrotha purpureolineata that has been hanging around the area. Behind Little Big Rock I pointed out the salmon coloured red-fingered angler and the orange painted angler.

We continued along the reef and I spotted the Nembrotha sp. nudibranch. Ron got a little ahead of me looking for the grey red-fingered angler he'd previously spotted and so I didn't get to show him the other pair of red widebody pipefish. I only stopped with the pipefish for a moment so I could catch up to Ron. He eventually found the angler and showed it to me.

From here we swam to the boulders. We swam almost directly to Split Rock and I'd missed my marks so I thought we were to the south east. I kept going north west until I realised and came back to Split Rock. I finished my safety stop and we exited at The Steps. The exit was easy.

Buddy

Ron Walsh

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

98 minutes

Maximum depth

21.3 m

Average depth

13.9 m

Water temperature

16.2°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

5:24am

1.41m

Low

11:21am

0.64m

High

5:27pm

1.46m

Low

11:50pm

0.40m

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

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.