Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on Sunday 16 November 2014

Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 16 November 2014

Time

11:21am - 12:38pm

Details

The surface of Botany Bay was quite wind blown when I arrived although it wasn't too bad straight out from The Leap because of the protection from the cliffs. I jumped in off the low platform and one of my fins ended up bent at 90° but fortunately it righted itself and wasn't a problem for the dive. I swam 10 metres or so south east along the shore before descending and swimming at 30-60° to the wall. At the wall the visibility was more than 10 metres.

I was quite close to the end of the wall and started checking out the low algae covered rocks for the missing seahorses, "Shirley" and "Andy", as well as pygmy pipehorses. I didn't find the seahorses but managed to find a tiny pink pygmy pipehorse. This one is way smaller than the other one I found, perhaps being 2 centimetres in total length. I wanted to look for more but still had to find the other two and have enough air to finish the dive. While I was looking for pygmy pipehorses on the rock where the seahorses had been I had the feeling that someone or something was looking over my shoulder. I turned to see a huge ray swimming towards me. It swam over my shoulder, nearly touching my head. It gave me a bit of a start but it was harmless as it was missing both its tail and its spine.

I carefully checked out the other rocks for the seahorses as well as having a cursory look for pygmy pipehorses. I managed to find the white pygmy pipehorse that Sheree found on 5 November. This pygmy pipehorse is so much bigger then the new one I found and is quite easy to locate, even if it is hiding. I then swam across the amphitheatre to the rock with the pink pygmy pipehorse which took nearly 5 minutes to find. Given how long it takes to find one that I know is there, I really need to spend more time looking for others.

By the time I'd left the 3rd pygmy pipehorse I was 35 minutes into the dive and down to 117 bar. I had to move quickly. I spotted the rock I'd seen the small red-fingered angler on last dive and immediately saw the angler in the same spot. It hadn't moved in a week. I wonder if that it is a trait of juvenile anglers as the tiny painted anglers stay in the same spot for weeks whereas the adult red-fingered anglers seem to move daily.

On my way to Seahorse Rock I saw a hunting reaper cuttlefish but I wasn't quick enough to get into position to photograph it while it was catching a shrimp. I found "Rosie", the pot-bellied seahorse, on the rock behind Seahorse Rock. She was out in the open which is unusual for her. At the next rock with seahorses I found both "Southern Cross" and "Pierre".

I had to move quite fast from here as I was down to around 75 bar and was quite cold. I swam quickly through Seadragon Alley and only found on weedy seadragon. I then headed up to the top of the reef and swam along the top past the basket star (the one on the top of the reef not the one on the sand line) and up to the boulders near the Plesiastrea colonies for my safety stop. After my safety stop I exited at The Steps.

Seas

Wind chop on surface

Visibility

5-15 metres

Duration

75 minutes

Maximum depth

21.6 m

Average depth

16.2 m

Water temperature

16.5°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

4:30am

1.26m

Low

10:16am

0.73m

High

4:22pm

1.35m

Low

10:57pm

0.53m

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.