Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on Saturday 9 May 2015

Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 9 May 2015

Time

8:23am - 9:46am

Details

This was my first dive at The Leap after the "super storm" and it was going to be interesting to see what impact the storm had on the site. There had been about a week of relatively calm conditions so the visibility should be good. There wasn't much swell at The Leap.

I slid down the rock next to the platform and the visibility at the surface was around 5 metres. I descended and swam at around 60° to the sand line. On the way to the sand line I saw a moorish idol. I reached the sand line at the south eastern end of the amphitheatre. Visibility here was at least 10 metres, there was a small amount of surge and the incoming tidal current was quite strong. The site looked pretty much as it should although if anything it looked cleaner. There was still a lot of growth of sponges on the rocks.

A short swim took me to Pygmy Rock which looked so much better than my last dive here 4 weeks ago. There were a lot more hydroids, small sponges and algae to serve as holdfasts for pygmy pipehorses so I hoping they would be back. After searching for around 5 minutes I was rewarded with juvenile pygmy pipehorse. It had been nearly 2 months since I had seen any on Pygmy Rock so I was very pleased.

I started to swim towards The Steps. I came across a weedy seadragon near the sand line along the way. This was one I'd seen a few times since the end of 2014.

I arrived at the rock behind Seahorse Rock hoping to see the pot-bellied seahorses, "Rosie" and "Pierre". Their rock was largely intact although it was missing the sponges at the highest end. I could not find either seahorse and I also checked out the surrounding area without finding them. I assume they were washed away with the storm. Hopefully they will turn up sooner or later.

I continued on to Seadragon Alley where I saw 5 more weedy seadragons. Four were ones I have seen a number of times previously and one was a small juvenile. The juvenile was around 10cm long and was very cute.

As I continued along the sand line after Seadragon Alley I noticed the layout had changed. It was almost like some of the rocks had moved. I couldn't even find the rock where the basket star lived, let alone the basket star. I think it will take a few dives to work out where everything is now.

I cut in from the sand line before Little Big Rock and came across another weedy seadragon. This one had no appendages on its head. I had seen it once before on 1st January this year.

I continued over the top of the reef to the boulders, arriving close to the Plesiastrea colonies. I did my safety stop and exited at The Steps.

Seas

Slight surge

Visibility

10+ metres

Duration

82 minutes

Maximum depth

21.6 m

Average depth

15.8 m

Water temperature

18.6°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

6:08am

0.45m

High

12:10pm

1.35m

Low

5:44pm

0.65m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D300

Lens

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D

Housing

Ikelite 6812.3

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.