Dive Details

Location

Date

Friday 6 April 2018

Time

10:41am - 12:26pm

Details

I hadn't dived since Monday and was keen for a dive at The Leap. As the diving conditions had been so good last weekend and we'd had calm conditions during the week, I was expecting it to be just as good. The Leap looked quite calm and even though it was only 2 hours before high tide it was possible to get in from the low platform. My plan was to swim out at 60° and start from the amphitheatre, looking for weedy seadragons and ghostpipefish along the sand line.

I jumped in from the low platform and swam out on the surface getting my camera rig ready. I then descended and swam at around 60° towards the sand line. I arrived at the amphitheatre as I had planned but was disappointed that the visibility was only between 5 to 10 metres. It's not that 5 to 10 is bad but after to 15-20 of Monday it wasn't what I was expecting. The water temperature was close to 17°C which was another surprise. There was some surge. I turned left and headed towards The Steps.

The going was tough as I was swimming into slight current and this was yet another surprise as it was still 2 hours before high tide and the water should be flowing into the bay.

I swam past Seahorse Rock without spotting anything of interest. I found a weedy seadragon just before the low rocks with sponges. It was "Clyde". I'd missed him last Sunday so it was good to see him again. I found two more weedy seadragons around the flat rocks with sponges.

I continued on to Southern Cross Rock. I only found one pygmy pipehorse on Southern Cross Rock. I looked for the black painted anglerfish but couldn't find it. I found a medium reaper cuttlefish.

I headed for Seadragon Alley and found another weedy seadragon in the hole just after the rock after Southern Cross Rock.

At the start of Seadragon Alley I found an adult weedy seadragon. I looked for the juvenile weedy seadragon where I last saw it and found it hiding in the kelp.

I continued to the end of Seadragon Alley and looked for the red Stigmatopora sp. pipefish. There was a lot of kelp in the area but once I moved it I found both pipefish. They started moving around a bit, leaving their alga and then coming back. Not far from the pipefish I spotted another weedy seadragon.

I swam along the sand line past Big Rock and on to the rock below Hand Rock. I spotted the whitish male pygmy pipehorse at the base of the rock where it usually is. I looked for the female but could not see her.

On Square Rock I found one of the white male pygmy pipehorses. I looked for others but could not find them. I then looked for the female White's seahorse with one eye on the nearby rock. She was on the sand line side of the rock.

I swam towards the shore to the rock where the white/pink red-fingered anglerfish has been and had a search a bit to find it as it had moved. I went back via the seahorse and then followed the reef to New Basket Star Rock. I had a bit of a look for red pipefish near New Basket Star Rock before heading to Little Big Rock via Diversity Rock.

Behind Little Big Rock I found the white female pygmy pipehorse but I couldn't find the male. I then looked at the higher rock and found first the cryptic male and then the cryptic female pygmy pipehorses.

I continued along the sand line to the rock where the yellow red-fingered anglerfish has been. It was still on the same rock.

I looked around the surrounding rocks for other anglerfishes and nudibranchs and then made my way to the boulders. I ascended to 5 metres and started my safety stop while swimming to Split Rock. I finished my safety stop at Split Rock and then swam underwater to the exit. The swell had picked up a bit but the exit was still quite easy.

Seas

Surgy

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

104 minutes

Maximum depth

21.6 m

Average depth

14.4 m

Water temperature

17.3°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

6:35am

0.59m

High

12:29pm

1.25m

Low

6:03pm

0.72m