This was Karolyn and Seb's first dive at The Leap and I wanted to show them our seahorses and they wanted to see the Miamira magnifica nudibranch and the Ceratosoma brevicaudatum nudibranch we'd seen on Thursday. I was going to be hard pressed for this dive as I started the dive with only 195 bar.
We jumped in at The Leap and descended to the sand line. We made our way along the sand line to Seahorse Rock and on the rock behind Seahorse Rock found the seahorses "Kel", "Bob" and "Rosie". It was exactly a year since I first found "Rosie" and even though she moves around a bit and we sometimes can't find her, it is good that she's been around for 12 months. Hopefully, we'll keep seeing her.
A bit further on we found "Lucy", the juvenile pot-bellied seahorse. She was in the same sponge we'd seen her on Thursday. I had a quick look for the Ceratosoma brevicaudatum nudibranch where I thought we'd seen it but was not able to locate it.
On the way to "Southern Cross", the seahorse, we saw a weedy seadragon. I found "Southern Cross" immediately as she was out in the open. This would have been a good opportunity to take some measurement photos but I didn't have the time because I started with 195 bar. I found "Richie" and "Pierre" eventually as they were both hiding.
We continued on towards The Steps. Thanks to Sheree's great directions from the last dive, I was easily able to find the rock with the tiny red angler, "Dana", and get some photographs.
On our way again, we passed the basket star and got to the area where the Miamira magnifica nudibranch normally is, but after much hunting we couldn't find it. Hopefully, it was just hiding and we'll see it again. Seb found a medium sized giant cuttlefish which was very playful. I ducked up to look for "Robin", the orange painted angler, but couldn't find it.
I dashed to where we've seen "Little Andrew", the orange painted angler, and "Big John", the orange form undescribed angler. "Little Andrew" had moved around the corner a bit and "Big John" was in a sponge nearby.
I was very low on air by this time and left Karolyn and Seb and started my safety stop as I was swimming towards the boulders. I exited at The Steps. |
