Dive Details

Location

Date

09 March, 2014

Time

11:04am - 12:23pm

Details

The Leap looked even better today with the bay being somewhat calmer. There was still some swell but not very much. We jumped in, descended and headed at 60° to the sand line. This got us there exactly at the amphitheatre. We headed north west towards The Steps through the sponge covered boulders.

We found "Alex", the painted angler, in the same spot it was yesterday, only it was facing the opposite direction. Down on the sand near "Alex" were two weedy seadragons.

We continued on towards The Steps and found the pot-bellied seahorses, "Rosie" and "Bob" on their usual rock. There was also a thorny back cowfish hiding in the sponges on the rock. A little further on we found "Lucy" the juvenile pot-bellied seahorse on the other side of the rock we saw her on yesterday.

Just after the low sponge covered boulders, Sheree found a very large common Sydney octopus that had its web expanded and its arms curled into spirals. As I approached to take a photograph it shot away and inked itself. It didn't move far but the arm tips were no longer in a spiral.

A little further on we found "Southern Cross", "Richie" and "Pierre" in their usual location.

We both still had a lot of air left so we took the next part slowly, carefully examining the sponge covered rocks but didn't find anything interesting on the rocks. We did find two more weedy seadragons between the rocks and around the kelp.

We had a quick look for pygmy pipehorses on big rock without luck. We then found the Miamira magnifica nudibranch on the same rock it was on yesterday. We investigated many of the sponge covered rocks on top of the reef but didn't find anything. I think I found the rock I saw "Big John", the orange form undescribed angler, on 2 weeks ago but could not could not find the angler.

We swam to the boulders and did a long safety stop near the Plesiastrea colonies and exited at The Steps after another great Leap dive.

Buddy

Sheree Papuni

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10-15 metres

Duration

79 minutes

Maximum depth

21.1 m

Average depth

14.2 m

Water temperature

18.8°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

3:17am

1.45m

Low

10:07am

0.65m

High

4:02pm

1.13m

Low

9:43pm

0.72m

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. 20.3 m.
 

Velvet leatherjacket, Meuschenia scaber. 20.8 m.
 

Painted angler, Antennarius pictus, ("Alex"). 19.9 m.
 

Painted angler, Antennarius pictus, ("Alex"). 20.1 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 20.8 m.
 

Thorny back cowfish, Lactoria fornasini. 19.1 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 19 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Bob"). 19.6 m.
 

Thorny back cowfish, Lactoria fornasini. 19.3 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Lucy"). 19.8 m.
 

Sea star, Asterodiscides truncatus. 20 m.
 

Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 18.9 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Southern Cross"). 17.4 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Southern Cross"). 17.8 m.
 

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

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

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 14.2 m.
 

Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 12.3 m.
 

Nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 11.1 m.
 

Sea star, Uniophora granifera. 10.6 m.