Dive Details

Location

Date

Thursday 16 April 2015

Time

2:41pm - 4:05pm

Details

The Leap looked great again for a nice weekday afternoon dive. We both jumped in off the low platform and the visibility there was at least 5 metres. We descended and headed to the sand line at a bearing of around 60°. There was a bit of current and we ended up dropping down the wall right near the end. Visibility here was at least 10 metres.

We slowly headed towards The Steps checking out all the low rocks for pygmy pipehorses. We also checked Pygmy Rock but could not find any. We checked the rocks after Pygmy Rock to no avail. The pygmies must be around but I just can't find them here at The Leap.

We swam on to Seahorse Rock and found "Rosie" and "Pierre" on their rock. Just past the seahorses we saw two moorish idols swimming together.

As we swam through Seadragon Alley we only saw two weedy seadragons, one at each end of the Alley. Both of them we had seen on Sunday, including the one with the wavy body.

We continued along the sand line as far as the basket star and then headed to the top of the reef. Ben spotted another weedy. This was one I'd seen on Saturday near seadragon alley. It had moved quite a long way in the few days. Interestingly, all the previous times I had seen it had been near the basket star.

We swam on to the boulders, did our safety stop and exited at The Steps.

Buddy

Ben Lumen

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10 metres

Duration

83 minutes

Maximum depth

21.8 m

Average depth

16.6 m

Water temperature

20.3°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

5:54am

1.74m

Low

12:17pm

0.28m

High

6:32pm

1.69m

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.

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 20.9 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 20.9 m.
 

Sea star macro, Asterodiscides truncatus. 21.3 m.
 

Eastern red scorpionfish, Scorpaena jacksoniensis. 21.1 m.
 

Eastern red scorpionfish, Scorpaena jacksoniensis. 21.1 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 20.5 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 19.8 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Pierre"). 19.7 m.
 

Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 20.4 m.
 

Moorish idol, Zanclus cornutus. 18.1 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 16.2 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 15.8 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 15.8 m.
 

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 13.3 m.