Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 22 July 2018

Time

11:50am - 1:44pm

Details

Cody joined me for my last dive of the weekend. Tides and swell were suitable for The Leap so I did it for the 3rd time in 3 days. The swell was meant to be down on yesterday but it looked a little rougher.

We got in from the low platform which had the occasional wave wash over it. We swam out on the surface before descending. We headed at around 30° towards the sand line and ended up on the edge of the amphitheatre near Lucy and Bob Rock. The visibility was only 3-5 metres, although it may have been better and just looked worse because of all the suspended matter in the water. The water temperature was around 15°C. We turned left and headed for The Steps.

We swam along just above the sand line past Seahorse Rock and on to the flat rocks with sponges. I went behind the rocks to the overhang. On my way to the overhang I spotted a clown toby. There were two weedy seadragons and a 20cm giant cuttlefish under the overhang. One of the weedy seadragons was a male with eggs.

We continued along the sand line past Southern Cross Rock and on into Seadragon Alley. I found my juvenile weedy seadragon near the start of Seadragon Alley. It was right on the sand rather than in the rocks as it has been. I pointed it out to Cody.

We saw nothing else of interest in Seadragon Alley. After the end of Seadragon Alley we stopped to look at the red Stigmatopora pipefish. When we arrived they were both in the same alga. As I was photographing them, the smaller of the two swam off to another alga. There was another 20cm giant cuttlefish nearby.

We continued along the sand line and came on a weedy seadragon about halfway to Big Rock.

We swam past Big Rock and I had a quick look around the area for pygmy pipehorses and anglerfishes.

We headed up to the rock with the one-eyed seahorse and after a couple of circuits of the rock I found her on the north-eastern side of the rock.

We swam over Sponge Hollow and on towards Diversity Rock. I found my grey red-fingered anglerfish in the same spot I have seen it since Friday. I took some photographs and pointed it out to Cody.

We headed past the basket star and on to Diversity Rock. We'd gone quite quickly until now so we had some time to slow down and look carefully. I found the male pygmy pipehorse in the same spot I'd seen it on Friday. I took some photographs and looked around for the female or the juvenile but could not find either.

We moved over to the juvenile painted anglerfish which was in its usual spot. I took some photographs and pointed it out to Cody.

On our way to Little Big Rock I looked for the male weedy seadragon with eggs. He's normally hanging around near the kelp but I couldn't find him today. At Little Big Rock I found the salmon red-fingered anglerfish low down on the outside of the rock, pretty much where I saw it yesterday and Friday. I pointed it out to Cody.

I headed up to the rock behind Little Big Rock and found the pair of pygmy pipehorses. I took photographs of them and when Cody swam up I pointed them out to him.

We swam along past Di's Rock and on to the rock closer to the sand line with the newer pygmy pipehorses. I found the female, "Di", straight away as she was in the same spot she'd been in for the last 2 days. I took some photographs and pointed her out to Cody. I then looked around for the male and was about to give up when I finally found him. I took some photographs of him before we moved on.

As we continued along the sand line I had a look for the large yellow anglerfish. I haven't seen it in months but others had so I was keen to find it. I didn't. I did find the orange red-fingered anglerfish in the spot it's been for the last couple of weeks. I pointed it out to Cody.

I thought Cody would be cold by now and asked if he wanted to exit but he was happy to continued so we headed back towards Little Big Rock. I was checking out rocks with sponges for anglerfishes. We came to a sand area and there was a huge ray sitting on the sand and a large Port Jackson shark nearby. I shot some video of the ray and then the Port Jackson shark. I then videoed the ray as I got in as close as I could. It slowly lifted and swam off.

Cody was ready to exit but wasn't sure where we were so we both headed up to the boulders. We ascended to 5 metres and slowly swam to Split Rock. We finished our safety stops and then swam underwater to the exit. There were a few waves but the exit was easy.

Buddy

Cody Sheridan

Seas

Choppy

Visibility

3 to 15

Duration

113 minutes

Maximum depth

21.0 m

Average depth

13.0 m

Water temperature

15°C

Dive Profile from Garmin Descent Mk1

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

3:59am

1.28m

Low

9:57am

0.59m

High

4:39pm

1.57m

Low

11:19pm

0.64m