Dive Details
Location
Date
Friday 4 December 2015
Time
11:10am - 12:28pm
Details
After not finding Rosie on Tuesday, I was back to The Leap to find her again, plus all the other goodies that The Leap has to offer.
We got in at The Leap, I slid down the wall while Ken took the big leap. We descended and swam at around 60° to the sand line arriving just south east of Pygmy Rock. Visibility was only around 6 metres, perhaps a little better but at least it wasn't cold (around 19°C).
We headed north west towards The Steps. We saw our first weedy seadragon just after Seahorse Rock. It was the juvenile (PT2015081601) I'd first seen south east of the wall at The Leap. A little further on was saw another large juvenile (PT2015062401).
We got to Seadragon Ally where we saw 3 more weedy seadragons: a female (PT2015011102); a male (PT2014030803) with lots of eggs (interestingly he had no eggs last Saturday); and another female (PT2013122201).
We continued on our way to The Steps. Just after Big Rock we saw another male weedy (PT2014091301) with lots of eggs.
We headed up the reef to see the two pygmy pipehorses. I found both of them straight away: the drab female (IL2015072601) and the pink male (IL2015092701).
We swam back to the sand line, past the basket star and on to Diversity Rock. At Diversity Rock I found all 4 seahorses, "Rosie", "Daniel" (in the sea tulips), "Noel", and "Arnold". I also found the angler and the white pygmy pipehorse (IL2015102401). Ken did one better than me finding a tiny juvenile weedy seadragon. It was only 6-7mm long. I have never seen on this small before. We also saw an adult male weedy (PT2015061401) with lots of eggs.
We swam on to "Di"'s rock. "Di" was not there but the new seahorse, "Mikhail", was there. Ken left me here while I was taking photographs and I followed him shortly after, swimming to the boulders, doing my safety stop and exiting at The Steps.
Buddy
Ken Rids
Seas
Slight
Visibility
3 to 6 metres
Duration
77 minutes
Maximum depth
21.5 m
Average depth
13.5 m
Water temperature
19.1°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides at Botany Bay AEDT
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.
High
3:52am
1.28m
Low
9:36am
0.75m
High
3:40pm
1.35m
Low
10:17pm
0.54m
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, (PT2015081601). 19.7 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015062401). 19.1 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015011102). 17.2 m.
Mosaic leatherjacket, Eubalichthys mosaicus. 16.8 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014091301). 15.1 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014091301). 15 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 12.1 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12.2 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 12.1 m.
Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 12.7 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Noel"). 12.8 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.6 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.6 m.
Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus, ("Kim"). 12.6 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.5 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Daniel"). 12.7 m.
Tiny juvenile weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 13.2 m.
Tiny juvenile weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 13.2 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Arnold"). 12.3 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015102401). 12.5 m.
Mourning cuttlefish. Sepia plangon. 13.5 m.
Tiny juvenile weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 13.1 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Mikhail"). 10.8 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Mikhail"). 10.7 m.