Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 16 September 2018

Time

9:28am - 11:19am

Details

For the first dive of the day, Cody and I did The Leap. It had been two weeks since I'd last dived The Leap and I was looking forward to it. The forecast had been for a 2-2.5m southerly swell but there was little evidence of it with just small waves lapping at the low platform and almost nothing at The Steps.

We got in from the low platform and surface swam out. The visibility on the surface was at least 5 metres as we could see the bottom clearly. We descended and swam at around 30° towards the sand line. We arrived just north-west of Bob and Lucy Rock. Visibility was between 10 and 15 metres. There was no obvious surge and the current was only slight. Water temperature was around 15°C. We turned left and headed towards The Steps.

We swam along the sand line and just before Seahorse Rock I spotted a male weedy seadragon with the remnants of eggs. He wasn't one I recognised and was missing his first head appendage. I spotted another weedy (perhaps a male) behind Seahorse Rock.

We continued on to the flat rocks with sponges. I noticed two weedy seadragons under the overhang. One appeared to be a female and the other was a male with a lot of eggs. He was swimming oddly because of his eggs. There was a third weedy, probably a female, between the two flat rocks.

I swam up to the area where the spindle cowrie had been. I could not see it in the soft coral but both pygmy pipehorses were there and were together.

We continued on towards Southern Cross Rock. Cody spotted some little white things that look like eggs. I have no idea what they are but I took a couple of photographs.

We headed into Seadragon Alley. I found two male weedy seadragons with the remnants of eggs. One was quite small and I thought it might have been the juvenile but I don't think it would be old enough yet to have eggs.

We got to the end of Seadragon Alley and I found the pair of red Stigmatopora sp. pipefish in their usual alga. While I was photographing them one swam off but I didn't see where it went. There was a weedy seadragon nearby and after photographing it I went back to the alga and both pipefish were in it. Then one of them moved again and went to a different type of alga behind the usual one.

We continued on along the sand line and saw nothing of interest on the way to Big Rock or after it.

Our next stop was the rock with the one-eyed White's seahorse. I had to make a couple of laps of the rock before I found her.

I checked out Sponge Hollow before we swam on towards Diversity Rock staying up from the sand line. I was looking for grey red-fingered anglerfish but found none.

We swam past the basket star and on the Diversity Rock. I looked on Diversity Rock for pygmies but found none. I also looked for the male weedy seadragon that has been below Diversity Rock but I could not see it. I found my juvenile orange painted anglerfish on its usual rock near Diversity Rock.

We headed towards Little Big Rock. I looked for the pair of pygmy pipehorses on the rock just before Little Big Rock but could not find them. I then made a sweep of the area around Little Big Rock for anglerfishes. Cody spotted a Nembrotha purpureolineata nudibranch on the rock behind Little Big Rock where the orange painted anglerfish was for a long time (and also pygmies and a sea spider).

I looked on the large rock behind Little Big Rock for the pair of pygmy pipehorses. I eventually found a female but I'm not sure if it is the same one or is new.

We headed back towards the sand line and then along towards the exit. I swam past the rock where I'd last seen the salmon red-fingered anglerfish without seeing it. On the next rock I spotted the large yellow red-fingered anglerfish in its usual spot but with its head facing into the rock. I headed back to look for the salmon anglerfish and found it hiding near where I'd last seen it.

We continued on to the rock with sea tulips where the pygmy pipehorses used to be. I looked all over the rock and was not able to find either pygmy pipehorse.

We swam on to the rock where the orange red-fingered anglerfish with the dark eyes had been. The small male White's seahorse was still on the sea tulips. I looked for the small red-fingered anglerfish at the based of the white honeycomb sponges but I couldn't find it. I then looked around the area for the orange anglerfish with dark eyes. I looked in the spot I'd last seen it but it wasn't there. We started to head towards the boulders when I found it 5 metres or so up from the sand line.

We headed to the boulders and started our safety stop while swimming to Split Rock. We finished our safety stop at Split Rock and then swam to the exit.

Buddy

Cody Sheridan

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10 to 15 metres

Duration

111 minutes

Maximum depth

21.2 m

Average depth

14.1 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

12:46am

1.24m

Low

6:40am

0.60m

High

1:14pm

1.49m

Low

7:58pm

0.61m