Dive Details

Location

Logged dive number

1593

Date

Wednesday 31 October 2018

Time

10:57am - 1:00pm

Buddy

Mike Scotland

Seas

Some surge

Visibility

5 to 15 metres

Duration

123 minutes

Surface interval

 3 days 21:29 (days hh:mm)

Maximum depth

20.6 m

Average depth

13.8 m

Water temperature

15°C
                                       

Dive Profile from Garmin Descent Mk1

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

2:12am

1.24m

Low

7:46am

0.62m

High

2:16pm

1.65m

Low

9:15pm

0.40m

Details

I dived The Leap on Saturday but before that it had been 3 weeks since I'd dived there. I was keen to dive again and checkout the weedy seadragons with eggs. Mike, Aiden and his daughter, Lucy, joined me for the dive.

Conditions looked good and I was looking forward to a good dive. We got in from the low platform and swam out on the surface. When we were ready we descended. We swam at around 30° towards the sand line but the current must have moved us because we ended up just after Seahorse Rock. The visibility was around 15 metres and the water temperature around 15°C. We turned left and headed towards The Steps.

It was a short swim to the flat rocks with sponges and I spotted a male weedy seadragon with eggs under the overhang. I took some photographs of him before heading up to the pygmy pipehorses on the size of the next rock. I found two males and a female. One of the males was heavily pregnant and looked like he was going to burst.

We swam on to Southern Cross Rock. I looked for seahorse but all I found was a reaper cuttlefish.

We continued on to Seadragon Alley. I found a female weedy seadragon and then a subadult weedy. I also found an eastern cleaner clingfish on some kelp that was happy to pose for photographs.

We swam on past the end of Seadragon Alley. Aiden and Lucy left us here. I looked around for the red Stigmatopora sp. pipefish again but was not able to find them. I did find the dwarf lionfish in the red chimney sponge.

I headed along the sand line towards Big Rock. Mike 5 metres ahead and 5 metres shallower than me. I was looking carefully for the red pipefish and I checked out each red alga I came to, even though they were the wrong species. I was around halfway to Big Rock when I spotted the right type of alga. I looked into and spotted a red pipefish. I looked a little more closely and spotted a second. I suspect these are the same two that were at the end of Seadragon Alley but I can't be certain.

I caught up to Mike at Big Rock and showed him the photographs of the red pipefish on my camera. I would have taken him back to see them if he was interested. He wasn't.

We looked around Big Rock. I was looking for pygmy pipehorses for the folks I'm showing them to in the next 2 weeks. I didn't find any. I looked at the base of the rock below Hand Rock for the one I'd found on Saturday but I couldn't see it. Mike continued on without me from here.

I looked for the one-eyed seahorse on the rock she's been on but I'm now convinced she's gone. It's sad because she was a link with Noel Conlon who found her there in February.

I continued my search for pygmy pipehorses all the way to the basket star up above Diversity Rock. I don't know why there are so few to be found close to The Steps.

I looked on Diversity Rock for pygmy pipehorses but couldn't find any. I found the male weedy seadragon with older eggs in the kelp below Diversity Rock.

I swam on to Little Big Rock and while looking for pygmy pipehorses I spotted a tiny Jorunna sp. nudibranch. I found the salmon red-fingered anglerfish on the shoreward side of Little Big Rock.

I headed up above Little Big Rock and found the Nembrotha purpureolineata nudibranch that has been there for the last few weeks.

I went over to the large rock where the pygmy pipehorses have been. I found the male in the same spot I saw it on Saturday. The female was to the right and lower down on the rock.

I continued on to where the large yellow red-fingered anglerfish used to be. It wasn't there. It had been there on Saturday. I looked around the area but was not able to find it.

I swam along the sand line to the hole where the upside-down and sawtooth pipefishes have been. I could not see any of them in or around the hole.

I followed the sand line to the rock where I'd seen "Jodi", the pot-bellied seahorse. I was pleased to find a male pot-bellied seahorse on one of the sea tulips. I have called him "Stephen". His pouch looks swollen but I'm not sure if he's pregnant or had been displaying to "Jodi". I looked around and found "Jodi" on another sea tulip.

I headed for the exit but on the way looked for the orange red-fingered anglerfish with dark eyes. I checked all the rocks I'd seen it before but it wasn't there. I then looked on one of the last rocks before the boulders and spotted it.

I ascended to Split Rock and did my safety stop. Once complete, I swam underwater to the exit. I had added 1.5kg of weights and I was able to stay submerged all the way to the exit.