Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 2 April 2017

Time

10:28am - 12:11pm

Details

I couldn't do my birthday dive on my birthday so I had to make to with the day after. The forecasts had suggested that Sunday was going to be a better day but when the day came it was really quite rough. The Steps did not look too bad for a safe exit but it was very rough at The Leap. I probably would have done The Steps to The Monument if it hadn't been 6 weeks since I last dived at The Leap.

I was able to sit on top of the ledge and wait for a wave before dropping in. It was very rough on the surface but surprisingly warm. It was actually warmer in the water than out. Despite it being rough it looked quite clear.

I descended and headed to the sand line at around 45° and arrived at the north-western end of the amphitheatre. There was a lot of surge but amazingly the visibility was over 10 metres and closer to 15. The water temperature was over 23°C. I turned left and headed towards The Steps.

I stopped at the rock where Ian's pygmies had been. I'd seen both of them on 18 February and wondered if they were still there. While looking I found a small grey male. After finding the male I looked for a female but found a red male. Two males and no females seemed odd so I kept looking eventually finding a female and then a second female. Both females were quite cryptic and looked similar to each other. The surge made photography difficult.

I continued on past Seahorse Rock and Bent Stick Rock. I found a weedy seadragon just before Southern Cross Rock. I looked for pygmy pipehorses on the side of Southern Cross Rock but found none. The two white ones appear to have gone.

I found two weedy seadragons in Seadragon Alley but I couldn't find the pygmy pipehorses at the end of Seadragon Alley.

Just before Big Rock I found a large juvenile giant cuttlefish and just after I found a weedy seadragon on the sand. It had found a school of mysids and was feeding. I found a male pygmy pipehorse on one of the rocks between Big Rock and Hand Rock but I found none on either Hand Rock or the rock below it.

I looked for the pygmies I'd found on Tuesday on the rock where Roney's pigmies had been but I couldn't find them. I also looked for Miamira magnifica nudibranchs around Miamira Rock but I could not see them. The basket star was there.

I swam past Diversity Rock and on to the next rock where I found the female pygmy pipehorse I'd found on Tuesday. I then swam on to Little Big Rock and found the small white male pygmy pipehorse.

I followed the sand line until The Steps and then ascended right to Split Rock where I did my safety stop. After completing my safety stop I ascended to find it was quite rough. Greg was on the shore so I swam in and managed to kneel on the low rocks and hand him my camera. Despite the waves it ended up being an easy exit but some big sets came through after I was out so I was quite lucky - it was my birthday dive after all.

Seas

Rough and surgy

Visibility

10 to 15 metres

Duration

103 minutes

Maximum depth

21.5 m

Average depth

15.3 m

Water temperature

22.6°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

12:58am

1.77m

Low

6:36am

0.39m

High

12:39pm

1.39m

Low

6:28pm

0.56m