Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on 18 May 2014

Dive Details

Location

Date

18 May 2014

Time

8:55am - 10:13am

Details

Another dive day and another dive at The Leap. I love The Leap. Conditions looked even better today than yesterday although it was more overcast so lighting wouldn't be as pleasant.

I jumped in off the low shelf, descended and swam at 60° to the sand line. The visibility was around 15 metres and the tidal current was quite strong. I didn't have to look for "Alex", the painted angler, as I knew it was near Seahorse Rock, so I looked carefully at all the sponge covered rocks looking for seahorses. It was fun but I didn't find any.

As I approached Seahorse Rock I looked even more carefully, in case I could find "Bob", the male pot-bellied seahorse. I didn't find him but I did find "Alex" in the same location as yesterday. I checked all the rocks in the area still looking for "Bob". "Rosie" was on her usual rock looking pretty as ever. I also found "Lucy" on the same rock as yesterday although today she was attached to kelp which is a bit worrying. I hope she doesn't get swept away.

I continued on towards the next lot of seahorses checking out all the sponge covered rocks for "Bob" or any other seahorses. I found "Southern Cross" immediately and she'd hardly moved from yesterday. Similarly, "Richie" had not moved and was easy to find. I can't say the same for "Pierre" and it took me over 10 minutes to locate him.

I swam on again looking for seahorses on every rock I thought might be appropriate. I visited the pineapplefish and there were 4 there again. I followed the sand line all the way to the hollow where Sheree's pipehorses were but they hadn't reappeared.

I visited the basket star and then the Di's pygmy pipehorses which were photographically obliging. On my way to the safety stop I looked for "Big John", the orange form undescribed angler, or any other anglers but found none. I did my safety stop just past the Plesiastrea colonies and exited at The Steps.

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10-15 metres

Duration

78 minutes

Maximum depth

21.0 m

Average depth

15.3 m

Water temperature

19.5°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

5:02am

0.30m

High

11:05am

1.43m

Low

4:42pm

0.53m

High

11:10pm

1.89m

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.