Dive Details

Location

Date

23 March, 2013

Time

2:33pm - 3:29pm

Details

Conditions at The Leap were much better than the previous week. It was actually quite calm and entry was very easy.

As we descended towards the sand line the visibility did not look all that great but we it really opened up on reaching the sand line with it being around 20 metres horizontally. We started moving towards The Steps and Sheree found one of the undescribed anglerfish before we reached Seahorse Rock with much squealing with joy.

We checked out Seahorse Rock and didn't find and seahorses but I checked a rock behind and a bit to the north-west of Seahorse Rock and found 3: "Bob", "Rosie" and what I originally though was a new one. At first I thought the third might have been "Francesco" but on checking the photos it turns out it was "Kel" who had moved down from "Southern Cross".

After leaving the new seahorses I went to look for the basket star. It was on the same rock but has moved some distance away from the sponge it was on previously. We also found 2 cuttlefish near by.

Next stop was "Southern Cross". She was relatively easy to find but it took me some time to find "Richie". Of course, we didn't find "Kel" has he was now behind Seahorse Rock.

After that it was a bee line to The Steps. The visibility dropped significantly as we ascended through 15 metres. We had an easy exit at The Steps.

Buddy

Sheree Papuni

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10-20 metres

Duration

56 minutes

Maximum depth

20.7 m

Average depth

14.6 m

Water temperature

15.7°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

6:11am

1.50m

Low

12:49pm

0.51m

High

6:56pm

1.31m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D7000

Lens

Nikon AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D

Housing

Ikelite 6801.70

Lens port

Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41

Strobe

2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161

Photographs

Depth information, where present, indicates the depth of the camera when the photograph was taken and can be used to approximate the depth of the subject.

Nudibranch, Chromodoris tasmaniensis. 19.3 m.
 

Undescribed anglerfish, 20.4 m.
 

Nudibranch, Chromodoris splendida. 19.5 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis ("Kel"). 19.5 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis ("Kel"). 19.4 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis ("Rosie"). 19.1 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis ("Bob"). 19.1 m.
 

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 17.2 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 17.3 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 17.4 m.
 

Nudibranch, Aphelodoris varia. 18.6 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis ("Southern Cross"). 17.2 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis ("Southern Cross"). 17.1 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis ("Richie"). 16.6 m.