Dive Details
Location
Date
Friday 2 October 2015
Time
9:17am - 10:44am
Details
The water temperature had been warmer of the last couple of weeks and I thought it would be fine to wear my wetsuit rather than drysuit, especially with the very warm air temperatures. I was going to be proven wrong.
Conditions looked great at The Leap and I was looking forward to a great dive. I slid down the wall next to the low platform as the tide was a bit high for the platform itself. On the surface the water was around 20°C and at least 5 metres in visibility. I descended and headed out at around 60° reaching the sand line right on Pygmy Rock. The water temperature had dropped to 16°C as I descended and it was already a bit unpleasant. The visibility was around 10 metres which made things feel a bit better.
I spent around 5 minutes looking at Pygmy Rock for pygmies before moving on. On the other side of the flat top rock I found a weedy seadragon (PT2014123001). I have seen this individual a few times in this location but also closer to Seahorse Rock.
I swam towards Seahorse Rock. Further along I found the large juvenile weedy seadragon (PT2015081601) which was first seen south of the Leap wall 2 months ago and last seen 3 weeks ago in Seadragon Alley. It has been moving around a bit.
After Seahorse Rock I saw a small wobbegong on the same rock that "Pierre", the pot-bellied seahorse, had been on after the super storm. I continued on past the rock where "Southern Cross" used to live and found a weedy seadragon (PT2013122201) just below the rock in the kelp. I have seen her before in this spot. A little further on and before Seadragon Alley I saw a male weedy seadragon (PT2014051701) with a lot of eggs on his tail. He's been in this location for a few weeks now.
In Seadragon Alley I only saw the one weedy, a male (PT2014030803) without eggs. Between Seadragon Alley and Big Rock I found another male weedy (PT2015052601) he had the remnants of eggs on his tail. I was then buzzed by a massive school of Australian salmon. The school must have had at least 500 fish in it but possibly a lot more. I watched them for a while wondering what might prey on them. It was at this point that I was feeling very very cold. I was shivering and my concentration was starting to get affected.
I pushed on towards The Steps. I swam past Big Rock and the two sponges on the rock below which Noel told me once had a pygmy seahorse living between them. After this point the confusion (from hypothermia) set in. I was unable to recognise where I was and swam straight past the rock up from the sand line with the 2 pygmy pipehorses, past the basket star and past Diversity Rock without recognised where I was at all. It was only when I got to Little Big Rock that I was able to get my bearings. I forced myself back to Diversity Rock and was able to find "Rosie", "Arnold", the male pygmy pipehorse (IL2015091101) and the red-fingered angler, but it took a lot of work and concentration.
I then made my way back past the basket star which I found this time and saw three more weedy seadragons before I reached the other two pygmy pipehorses (IL2015072601 and IL2015092701). I then headed back to Diversity Rock to get photos of the seahorses, pygmy pipehorses and angler. I tried to find "Noel" and the female pygmy pipehorse but it was all too much for me.
I swam on to "Di" and "Joseph" and managed to find both of them despite my confusion. I then made a bee line for the boulders and had a bit of trouble finding my navigation marks but eventually found my usual safety stop spot, finished my safety stop and got out at The Steps.
The trip up the steps and the walk back to the car at The Leap car park was a major effort. It was just like being drunk and I had to concentrate very hard. Once I got back to the car I was able to get my wetsuit off and warm up and once warm my senses came back to me. It was an interesting experience but I certainly don't want to do that again.
Seas
Slight
Visibility
10 metres
Duration
86 minutes
Maximum depth
21.8 m
Average depth
14.1 m
Water temperature
15.8°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides at Botany Bay AEST
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.
Low
4:58am
0.35m
High
11:19am
1.76m
Low
5:52pm
0.31m
High
11:55pm
1.38m
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.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014123001). 21.4 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015081601). 19.9 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015081601). 19.9 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2013122201). 18.1 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014051701). 18.6 m.
Eggs on the tail of male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014051701). 18.6 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030803). 17.6 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015052601). 14.3 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015052601). 13.7 m.
Eggs on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015052601). 13.7 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015061401). 13.6 m.
Eggs on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015061401). 14 m.
Eggs on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015010102). 12.9 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091101). 13 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014092001). 13.2 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015100201). 13.5 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12.6 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12.7 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 12.6 m.
Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 13.3 m.
Female pot-belied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 13 m.
Male pot-belied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Arnold"). 12.8 m.
Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 13.4 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015010102). 12.4 m.
Female pot-belied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 10.9 m.
Dwarf lionfish, Dendrochirus brachypterus. 10.9 m.
Male pot-belied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Joseph"). 10.9. m.
Female pot-belied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 11 m.