Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on 26/12/13

Dive Details

Location

Date

26 December, 2013

Time

9:36am - 10:49am

Details

Diving at Kurnell is a lovely way to spend Boxing Day, especially at The Leap.

We jumped in at The Leap and swam to the sand line, turning towards The Steps. We hadn't been there long when I spied a nudibranch on a rock. I realised this was a species (Janolus sp.) I'd never seen before so I was pretty excited.

Behind Seahorse Rock we found "Rosie" and "Bob", pot-bellied seahorses. There was still no sign of "Kel". I looked around the area, including a sweep of Seahorse Rock, looking for "Kel" and "Lucy", one of the juveniles we'd seen regularly but could not find either.

Continuing on to The Steps I had a quick look for the Okenia mellita nudibranch that Sebastien had pointed out on Sunday but couldn't find it. A bit further along I found 5 more Janolus sp. nudibranchs. To go from seeing none to 6 in one dive is incredible. One of them initially looked like an anemone in the photo, but on closer inspection I could see its rhinophores. I wonder of they attempt to mimic an anemone.

I found "Southern Cross", "Richie" and "Pierre" on their usual rock. They move around a bit on their rock but never appear to leave the rock. I also found a reaper cuttlefish on the rock. There frequently appears to be one there.

We continued on towards The Steps. I thoroughly checked around the rock with the sea tulip colonies for "Dana", the red painted angler, but could not find it. I wonder if it has moved further afield.

When we got to Big Rock I thought I'd have a quick look for pygmy pipehorses and was surprised to find one almost immediately. In fact, I was amazed how easy it was to see. It was a pretty one, too, and I believe a male.

We swam on past the basket star and at little big rock, I managed to find the Okenia mellita nudibranch that Sheree had found on Sunday.

Further on I was able to locate "Big John", the orange form undescribed angler in exactly the same place it had been on Sunday.

A leisurely swim to the rocks for a safety stop and we exited at The Steps. This was a thoroughly enjoyable dive.

Buddy

Peter Jaques

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5-10 metres

Duration

73 minutes

Maximum depth

21.4 m

Average depth

14.0 m

Water temperature

18.2°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

3:21am

1.35m

Low

9:19am

0.69m

High

3:16pm

1.33m

Low

9:43pm

0.49m

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.