Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on Saturday 6 December 2014

Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 6 December 2014

Time

7:33am - 8:46am

Details

Botany Bay looked quite flat from the top of the stairs but by the time I'd geared up and headed down the stairs there were a few big sets coming through. As it was nearly high tide the low platform was out as and entry point and the slightly larger swell meant I didn't even need to slide down the rock to get in. I swam straight out from the entry point and descended. The visibility was only around 5 metres. I headed to the sand line at 60° and the deeper I got the clearer it got, although it was still quite dark due to the early hour and the Sun behind clouds.

I hit the amphitheatre right at the rock with the pink pygmy pipehorse. The visibility was now around 10 metres. I managed to find the pink pygmy pipehorse almost immediately. I think the dark conditions helped as my light was more effective. After taking a few photos of the ping pygmy pipehorse I headed east to the white one and also found it immediately.

I swam over the large sponge covered rock next to the white pygmy pipehorse and chose a low rock on the sand line to look for more pygmy pipehorses. I started on one side and swam around in an anticlockwise direction around the rock looking very carefully in the algae. I got around three quarters of the way around when I found another pink pygmy pipehorse. This was my third pink one and I was pretty excited. I had a bit of a look for more on that rock but didn't find any.

I went back to the first pygmy pipehorse for some more photos before heading on my way to The Steps. Again I had spent too much time looking for pygmy pipehorses and had to pick up my pace. The water was now quite thick with small jellyfish and it made it difficult to see, not because they blocked the view but because they were distracting. They did get in the way of a number of my photos.

I found "Rosie" on her usual rock but did not see any other seahorses around. I continued on to the next seahorses and found "Southern Cross" and "Pierre" close together.

I now had a bit more time and could look more carefully as I swam through Seadragon Alley. I only managed to find two weedies in that area. The first weedy I have seen regularly in the same area since at least lat 2013. The second one I have seen numerous times since April.

I headed up away from the sand line to the top of the reef. Half way along to The Steps I found 2 more weedies. one was stumpy tail who I have seen numerous times since June. The other was a male with eggs who I don't think I have seen before..

I swam past the top basket start and then headed to the boulders for my safety stop as I swam to the Plesiastrea colonies. After I finished my safety stop I had a quick look for bubble shells in the shallows (I didn't find any) before exiting at The Steps.

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5-10 metres

Duration

72 minutes

Maximum depth

22.6 m

Average depth

16.1 m

Water temperature

16.3°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

2:21am

0.40m

High

8:51am

1.83m

Low

3:29pm

0.29m

High

9:24pm

1.37m

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.