Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 16 April 2016

Time

12:22pm - 2:12pm

Details

After missing the fantastic conditions in Sydney last weekend I was very keen to see my beloved Leap! Conditions were still calm but the swell had turned to easterly again which I think was the reason for the poor conditions for so long.

Mike, Roger and I jumped in at The Leap. Roger wanted to show us a little angler he'd seen on the wall so we surface swam along the shore to the south east before descending. We swam at around 60° and arrived at the end of the wall. Visibility here was 5 to 8 metres, significantly down from the reports of last weekend. We dropped down the wall and followed Roger along the wall to the south east. It was tough going due to the incoming tide.

Eventually we reached the rock Roger had seen the angler but he wasn't able to find it. I started looking too but realised I hadn't asked what species it was let alone what colour. I was just looking for an angler. After some time, and just as Mike wanted to abort the search, I spotted a little pale yellow painted angler on the side of the rock. After a few photos we headed back along the wall towards The Steps.

Just past Seahorse Rock I spotted the first weedy seadragon for the dive. It was just in front of the rock on which "Rosie" used to live. We swam on and I looked for the bent stick pipefish in its usual spot but I could not see it. I found another two weedy seadragons just past Southern Cross Rock.

We swam through Seadragon Alley where I saw another n weedy seadragons. I saw another weedy seadragon between Seadragon Alley and Big Rock and then another two just before Big Rock but I was only able to photograph one as the other one disappeared.

At Big Rock I wanted to find the ornate ghostpipefish that John Farrant had been seeing and found it almost immediately even though I had previously looked unsuccessfully. It didn't seem to mind being photographed.

I continued on (I'd lost both Mike and Roger by now). I swam up to High Pygmy Rock and after much searching was not able to find any pygmy pipehorses. Last time I was here the female was missing. Could this be the end of High Pygmy Rock after 9 months?

I swam back to the sand line and found another weedy seadragon. I swam past the basket star and on to Diversity Rock. With no pygmies at High Pygmy Rock it was very important for me to find at least on on Diversity Rock. After much searching I found the little white pygmy. I then set about to find the seahorses. I found "Daniel" and "Noel" in the sponges on the rock behind Diversity Rock. "Rosie" was on the rock to the left. I was not able to find "Arnold" at all.

I swam on to the other seahorses and found both "Di" and "Mikhail" on their usual rock. I then headed for the boulders, started my safety stop and headed towards my safety stop spot. I swam past the Pleisiatrea colonies on the way and I think they hadn't bleached (unlike the colonies in Sydney Harbour) but need to look more closely next time. I finished my safety stop and exited at The Steps.

Buddy

Mike Scotland, Roger Lee

Seas

Surgy

Visibility

4 to 8 metres

Duration

110 minutes

Maximum depth

21.5 m

Average depth

15.4 m

Water temperature

20.8°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

3:58am

1.54m

Low

10:40am

0.54m

High

4:56pm

1.35m

Low

10:43pm

0.71m