Dive Details

Location

Date

Friday 5 January 2018

Time

8:35am - 10:25am

Details

This was my first dive at The Leap in 2018. I'd had to work for the last 3 days and so was eager to get back in the water. It had been calm all week and both the exit at The Steps and the entry at The Leap were flat.

We both got in from the low platform and swam out on the surface before descending. We swam at around 30° to the sand line but arrived just to the north west of the amphitheatre. There was still a lot of kelp around. Visibility was over 15 metres and the water temperature was around 22°. There was almost no surge but the incoming tidal current was quite strong. This would only be a problem if we stopped to take photographs - ok it was going to be a bit of a problem. We headed for The Steps.

We swam past Seahorse Rock and on to the flat rocks with sponges. I found the male weedy seadragon that had the head damage under the overhang. His head has almost completely healed now. There was another male between the two flat rocks amongst the kelp. He had fairly new eggs. We didn't see any other weedy seadragons in the area.

We continued on to Seahorse Rock. Mike looked for pygmy pipehorses so I went looking for the black painted anglerfish. I found it. After Mike had finished with the pygmy pipehorse I went and looked and found 3: 2 males and a female.

I swam on to Seadragon Alley and caught up to Mike at the start. He'd found a juvenile pygmy pipehorse on one of the first rocks. A little farther on we found a male weedy seadragon with eggs. His eggs were quite new. A little farther again, Mike found another pygmy pipehorse. This was a pink female hanging on to an ascidian. Mike continued on while I photographed the pygmy pipehorse. I looked for a male but instead found a juvenile. In the middle of Seadragon Alley I found a female weedy seadragon.

I continued to the end of Seadragon Alley and found both pygmy pipehorses on the rock with sponges. I also found both red Stigmatopora sp. pipefishes in their usual alga. The great seahorse was on her usual rock.

I headed up to the rock before Big Rock with four pygmy pipehorses. The male and female were together on a sponge and I also found the red juvenile. I couldn't find the other juvenile.

I swam on to Big Rock. I found the pair of pygmy pipehorses on top of Big Rock near the single sea tulip. I also found the female lower down on Big Rock but I could not find the male. I found the black painted angler on the rock below Hand Rock. After a but of hunting I found the white/pink anglerfish on the side of a rock near where it had been. I went back to Big Rock and looked for the red male low down but couldn't find it.

I headed to New Basket Star Rock. I dropped on to the sand and found the red Stigmatopora sp. pipefish it its usual alga.

I swam past Diversity Rock and on to Little Big Rock. I found the female pygmy pipehorse on the rock where the anglerfishes used to be but I could not find the male. I swam up to the rock with the green sponge and orange red-fingered anglerfish.

I headed down to the sand line and the other pair of red Stigmatopora sp. pipefish. They were both in their usual alga.

I swam to the boulders and ascended to 5 metres and started my safety stop. I finished my safety stop at Split Rock before swimming to the exit.

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Slight

Visibility

15 to 20 metres

Duration

110 minutes

Maximum depth

21.1 m

Average depth

14.9 m

Water temperature

21.5°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

5:15am

0.38m

High

11:42am

1.96m

Low

6:23pm

0.18m