Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on Monday 29 February 2016

Dive Details

Location

Date

Monday 29 February 2016

Time

11:07am - 12:50pm

Details

It got a bit rough all of a sudden just before we were about to get in. It was just a couple of sets but I decided to slide down the wall while Mike got in from the low platform. It was quite choppy on the surface. We descended and swam at around 30° to the sand line arriving near the rock where I last saw the pot-bellied seahorses, "Bob" and "Lucy". Visibility was only 3 to 5 metres and the surge was quite strong.

We swam towards The Steps looking for the Miamira magnifica nudibranch that had the emperor shrimp. Mike eventually found it hiding in a sponge. I couldn't see the shrimp on it but it was wedged in pretty tightly. Hopefully when the swell drops we'll be able to find it again.

We swam past Seahorse Rock. I had a look for the robust ghostpipefish that had been there but with the surge and all the kelp it was difficult to find anything. Mike found a weedy seadragon (PT2015081601) in the gap between the large rocks.

We swam on to Seadragon Alley. Mike spotted another weedy (PT2015011102). This weedy did not want its photo taken and kept turning away. Eventually I got some head and flank shots and bumped into another weedy (PT2016021001) who was more than happy to be photographed. I found a third one (PT2013122201) shortly after.

Near the end of Seadragon Alley I was looking for the robust ghostpipefish. I was thinking it was going to be difficult to find with the surge and kelp but then I spotted it. It's been around for over 2 weeks now.

After Seadragon Alley we saw two more weedy seadragons, one of the juveniles (PT2015051001) from last year and the female with the deformed body (PT2014030901) who was just before Big Rock.

Between Big Rock and the basket star I looked for the robust ghostpipefish we'd seen previously but I could not find them. I then went up to the rock with the pygmies. I was only able to find the male (IL2016021002) and the female (IL2015072601). The surge was quite strong and it is possible the other two were there but hiding.

I dropped back to the sand line for another look for the ghostpipefish before swimming on past the basket star. I checked the rock with the chimney sponge for the juvenile pygmy before swimming on to Diversity Rock and catching up with Mike. We found the three male seahorses, "Arnold" and "Noel" were in the sponges behind Diversity Rock and "Daniel" was on the rock below and to the right of Diversity Rock. We could not find "Rosie". I found one pygmy pipehorse on Diversity Rock. It was a male (IL2016022901) I'd not seen before. Mike left me and headed for the exit.

I continued on to the other seahorses. Along the way I spotted a weedy seadragon (PT2016021501). I found "Mikhail" in the sponges at one end of his rock and after much searching found "Di" low down on the other end of the rock.

I swam to the boulders, did my safety stop and exited at The Steps.

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Surgy

Visibility

3 to 5 metres

Duration

103 minutes

Maximum depth

21.3 m

Average depth

14.2 m

Water temperature

21.1°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

1:09am

1.46m

Low

7:26am

0.63m

High

1:22pm

1.32m

Low

7:26pm

0.60m

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.