Dive Details

Location

Date

08 February, 2014

Time

12:11pm - 1:15pm

Details

We jumped in at The Leap and descended to the sand line. The visibility at the sand line was more than 10 metres although there was some particulate matter in the water. It was far better than it has been for quite some time.

We made our way slowly towards The Steps. Sheree found a number of Janolus sp. nudibranchs along the way. At the rock behind Seahorse Rock we found two of our usual seahorses, "Rosie" and "Bob" as well as a new male seahorse, "Eddie". "Eddie". had been seen a week earlier by other divers. He may have replaced "Kel" as the second male for "Rosie". We had a look around the area for "Lucy" the juvenile female seahorse but couldn't find her.

We continued on and found the seahorses, "Southern Cross", "Richie", and "Pierre" at their usual location as well as the very small reaper cuttlefish which we have seen on a number of occasions.

We swam on to where we'd previously see the red painted angler, "Dana", but could not find it. I suspect it has moved on. I hope one day we find it again.

We checked out Big Rock for pygmy pipehorses but found none. On the way to look for the Miamira magnifica nudibranch, we spotted a clown toby. We found the rock where we'd previously seen the M. magnifica but could not find it there. Sheree found it (or one) on a nearby rock.

By the time we were both low on air and headed to the boulders to do our safety stop while swimming to The Steps. After 5 minutes we were at the exit point and ascended and exited.

Buddy

Sheree Papuni

Seas

Choppy

Visibility

10-15 metres

Duration

63 minutes

Maximum depth

21.0 m

Average depth

14.9 m

Water temperature

17.1°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides

High

4:06am

1.46m

Low

10:48am

0.65m

High

4:37pm

1.13m

Low

10:25pm

0.64m

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.

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 19.7 m.
 

Nudibranchs, Janolus sp. 20.9 m.
 

Nudibranch, Chromodoris splendida. 19.7 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Eddie"). 19.8 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 19.3 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Bob"). 19.3 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Eddie"). 19.9 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Bob"). 19.2 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 19.8 m.
 

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

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Richie"). 17.2 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Pierre"). 17 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 16.8 m.
 

Clown toby, Canthigaster callisterna. 11.9 m.
 

Clown toby, Canthigaster callisterna. 12 m.
 

Nudibranch, Hypselodoris obscura. 12 m.
 

Nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 11.8 m.
 

Nudibranch, Pteraeolidia ianthina. 11.4 m.