I am very fortunate to live in the Sydney area and I believe we have the best non-tropical shore diving in the world. We have a vast array of awesome fish and invertebrates right on our doorstep and some of those species are endemic (i.e. not found anywhere else). Not only can these be seen on almost every dive but I get to see the same individuals dive after dive and I get to feel I know them personally.
My favourite local dive site is called The Leap. It gets its name from the entry which is a ledge that can be as much as 2m above the water and you literally leap. There is a low platform which gets you close to the water if, like me, you carry a large camera rig.
The Leap is usually done as a drift dive on an incoming tide. You drift/swim around 800m underwater to the next dive site called The Steps (because it has a lot of steps). You jump in, descend and swim to the sand line at a depth of 20-22m. You then follow the sand line (or just up from the sand line), as it gradually gets shallower, all the way to The Steps.
On a dive at The Leap I can see the majority of species of fish and invertebrates that can be seen in the Sydney region although it isn’t a night dive site and so I don’t get to see many of the nocturnal cephalopods that can be seen in Sydney.
Here are just some of the species I see at The Leap on a regular basis.
Endemic Species
Red-fingered Anglerfish,
Porophryne erythrodactylus.
Sydney Pygmy Pipehorses,
Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri.
Other Temperate Species
Weedy Seadragon,
Phyllopteryx taeniolatus.
Pot-bellied Seahorses,
Hippocampus abdominalis.
Reaper Cuttlefish,
Sepia mestus
Giant Cuttlefish,
Sepia apama
Common Sydney Octopus,
Octopus tetricus
Basket star,
Astrosierra amblyconus
Some not so regulars
White’s Seahorses,
Hippocampus whitei.
Sea spider
Tropical and Sub-tropical Species seen regularly
Painted Anglerfish,
Antennarius pictus.
Ornate Ghostpipefish,
Solenostomus paradoxus
Robust Ghostpipefish,
Solenostomus cyanopterus
Miamira magnifica nudibranch
Here are some other species I have seen at The Leap:
Great Seahorse,
Hippocampus kelloggi
Delicate Ghostpipefish,
Solenostomus leptosoma
Red Indianfish,
Pataecus fronto (these can be common at other sites around Sydney)
Goblinfish,
Glyptauchen panduratus
Emperor Shrimp,
Zenopontonia rex
Here's an example of a single dive:
Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on Tuesday 17 December 2019 - ATJ's Diving Site