Dive Details

Location

Date

Monday 11 December 2017

Time

11:53am - 1:53pm

Details

The plan for today was a long dive. Cody wanted to give his twin 12.2L tanks a workout and I always love a long dive at The Leap. Conditions had been good for the last 2 days and the forecast today was much the same as yesterday. The water temperature was back above 18°C so everything looked great for a long dive.

There was almost no swell at The Leap and just a bit of wind chop from the northeasterly wind. We got in from the low platform and surface swam out a fair way to make our swim to the sand line a bit shorter. We descended and swam at around 40° towards the sand line arriving at the amphitheatre. The visibility was over 10 metres and I could see Pygmy Rock despite the particulate matter in the water column. The water temperature was under 18°C which was fine at first but I knew I'd be cold in 30 minutes or so. We turned left and rode the current towards The Steps.

I again found the seafan that the anemones had been on on the 29th of November. This time I remembered to take a photograph to show the damage to the axes.

We continued on past Seahorse Rock and on to the flat rocks with sponges. I looked under the overhang for the male weedy seadragon with the damaged head but he wasn't there. I then noticed him in the gap between the two flat rocks. He still had a couple of eggs left on his tail. He also appeared to have two anemones on his tail. Just behind Bent Stick rock I spotted two more weedy seadragons.

We swam/drifted on to Southern Cross Rock. I was only able to find two of the pygmy pipehorses: a white male and a white female.

We swam through Seadragon Alley. I checked the red algal clumps for red Stigs but found none. We also didn't find any weedy seadragons. By now I was thoroughly cold.

At the end of Seadragon Alley, I looked on the rock with the sponges for the pygmy pipehorses. I found the female just out from the green sponges on a purple sponge. I eventually found the male on the same purple sponge in the middle of the rock I've seen him on before.

We moved on to the pair of red Stigs in the same clump of red alga they have been for some time. I also found the female great seahorse on the next rock. There was a large porcupine puffer in the area, too.

We followed the sand line for part of the way to Big Rock and then I swam up to the rock where the three pygmies have been. I found the male straight away and then the juvenile. I was not able to find the female.

We swam on to Big Rock. On top of Big Rock I found the male pygmy pipehorse and then I found his partner. A couple of other divers swam up and I pointed out the male pygmy to them. I dropped down the outward face of Big Rock to look for my red male pygmy pipehorse. After much searching I found him, quite low on the rock where it cuts under. I looked for the female but couldn't find her.

As I left Big Rock I could see the white red-fingered angler in the same spot it had been yesterday. I pointed it out to Cody. The black painted angler was also in the same purple sponge it had been yesterday.

We swam along the sand line until Old Basket Star Rock. We then cut up the reef to New Basket Star Rock. The basket star is still on the green hand sponge. I dropped onto the sand to try to find the latest pair of red Stigs. I couldn't remember exactly where I'd seen them but eventually I found the right alga. They seem smaller than the other pairs. I don't think they are both the previous air in the area but one may be.

We swam on past Diversity Rock and on to Little Big Rock. The salmon red-fingered angler was in its usual spot but the orange painted angler had moved to the next rock. I looked near where we'd seen the orange painted angler yesterday and found the male pygmy pipehorse. I looked more closely and there was a very cryptic female with the male.

We followed the sand line to last pair of red Stigs. At first I couldn't find them and then I spotted both of them. I took some photos and showed them to Cody.

I was running low on air and Cody was in deco so we headed for the boulders. We ascended to 5 metres and started our safety/deco stops as we swam to Split Rock. At Split Rock I finished my safety stop but Cody still had a few minutes on his deco stop left so I waited for him. Once he finished we swam slowly to the exit. I stayed underwater to the last moment so I could watch what the waves were doing. I was perfectly fine for the exit so we surfaced right at the exit and climbed on to the shelf.

Buddy

Cody Sheridon

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10 metres

Duration

120 minutes

Maximum depth

21.1 m

Average depth

13.7 m

Water temperature

16.7°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

3:57am

1.37m

Low

9:45am

0.66m

High

3:55pm

1.48m

Low

10:30pm

0.45m