Dive Details

Location

Date

Friday 13 October 2017

Time

11:49am - 1:37pm

Details

Another day, another dive at The Leap. Mike joined me for today's dive although I knew we'd only be together for the first 20-30 minutes because my pony gives me so much extra time.

We both got in from the low platform and surface swam out from the sure. When we were ready we descended and headed to the sand line at around 45°. We arrived at the sand line and the visibility was around 10 metres, water temperature around 16°C and there was very little surge. The tidal current was quite strong. We turned left and headed towards The Steps.

I stopped at Ian's Pygmy Rock and after a bit of searching found the small pink female pygmy pipehorse. I looked around for the male but couldn't find him.

I continued on past Seahorse Rock and on to the flat rocks on the sand line. I caught up with Mike in the gap near the overhang. We initially didn't see the male weedy seadragon with the hole in his head but the finally spotted him between the flat rocks. He's still doing OK, it appears. I swam on past Bent Stick Rock and on to the sand where I found another weedy seadragon.

At Southern Cross Rock I stopped along the side while Mike looked at the top. I initially found one of the female pygmy pipehorses and then I found the whiteish male. I then found the smallest of the three female pygmies. I headed back around a metre and found the other pair of pygmies. They weren't together but were pretty close. Mike had already gone ahead but as I was about to leave Southern Cross Rock, Aiden swam up. He'd lost his buddies and asked if I'd seen them. I showed him 3 of the pygmies and then we continued on.

Just past the rock after Southern Cross Rock I found another weedy seadragon.

We swam into Seadragon Alley and I spotted a clown toby near the start. In the middle of Seadragon Alley I spotted a male weedy with eggs. As I was photographing him, Aiden went on ahead. By the time I'd finished photographing the weedy, Dick and Simon (Aiden's buddies) had caught up. I tried to indicate that Aiden was just ahead but they didn't understand. I saw another weedy before the end of Seadragon Alley.

Right at the end of Seadragon Alley I found the pair of pygmy pipehorses on the rock with the green sponges. The male was in the same place he was yesterday and I hadn't found the female yesterday. I showed them to Dick and Simon before they swam off. I then swam on to the pair of red widebody pipefish.

I swam on to Big Rock where I found my pink male pygmy pipehorse and his partner before going to the other end of Big Rock to find Roney's male pygmy pipehorse and partner. The black angler was on top of the rock below Hand Rock and the male pygmy was on the side. I couldn't find the female pygmy.

I continued along just up from the sand line and then cut in to New Basket Star Rock. I then swam on to Diversity Rock where I found the male pygmy pipehorse. I couldn't find the female.

At Little Big Rock I looked for pygmy pipehorses but found none. I photographed the orange red-fingered angler on the adjacent rock before moving on.

I followed the sand line to the other pair of red widebody pipefish and then looked for the nearby male weedy seadragon with eggs. He was just past the pipefish.

I headed for the boulders passing over Di's Rock. If I'd looked more carefully on Di's Rock I may have seen the angler that Mike saw only minutes before me. At the boulders I ascended to 5 metres and started my safety stop as I swam to Split Rock. I finished my safety stop and swam to the exit. The exit was easy.

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

108 minutes

Maximum depth

21.4 m

Average depth

15.2 m

Water temperature

16.2°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

3:30am

1.24m

Low

9:09am

0.61m

High

3:39pm

1.61m

Low

10:34pm

0.41m