Dive Details

Location

Date

14 June 2014

Time

7:36am - 8:52am

Details

It was overcast and rainy at The Leap and there was an east-south-easterly swell. It was a little rough but not too rough to dive. I slid down the rock next to the ledge to enter the water. I descended and swam to the sand line at 60° arriving at the amphitheatre.

I turned left and headed towards The Steps. I found "Lucy" and "Bob" at their new location. It looks like they may stay here, and I hope they do.

I continued on and found two weedy seadragons before I got to Seahorse Rock. Behind Seahorse Rock I found "Alex", the painted angler, it its usual location. "Rosie", the pot-bellied seahorse, was also on her usual rock. I had a hunt around for the small orange painted angler but could not find it.

At the next seahorse location I found "Southern Cross", "Pierre" and "Richie". "Pierre" was very pregnant and I hung around for a bit in case he was about to give birth. He didn't while I was still there.

I swam on towards The Steps finding three more weedy seadragons along the way. That was 5 for the dive. The basket star was in its usual location.

I checked out the rock where Di previously pointed out the pygmy pipehorses and found one of them, a male I think. On my way to The Steps I again looked for "Big John", the undescribed angler that had been seen last week, but was not able to find it. I did my safety stop near the Plesiastrea colonies and exited at The Steps. The exit was a bit hairy because it was nearly high tide and the swell was pushing straight onto the exit.

Seas

Surgy

Visibility

10+ metres

Duration

75 minutes

Maximum depth

21.9 m

Average depth

14.9 m

Water temperature

17.7°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

3:05am

0.24m

High

9:03am

1.49m

Low

2:43pm

0.42m

High

9:15pm

2.04m

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.

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Lucy"). 21 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Bob"). 20.7 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 21.6 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 21.5 m.
 

Painted angler, Antennarius pictus, ("Alex"). 20 m.
 

Painted angler, Antennarius pictus, ("Alex"). 20.3 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 20.4 m.
 

Very pregnant male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Pierre"). 18.1 m.
 

Very pregnant male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Pierre"). 18.2 m.
 

Very pregnant male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Pierre"). 18.1 m.
 

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Southern Cross"). 18.4 m.
 

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Richie"). 18.1 m.
 

Eastern smooth boxfish. Anoplocapros inermis. 18.4 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 17.9 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 18 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 18.2 m.
 

Pygmy leatherjacket, Brachaluteres jacksonianus. 15 m.
 

Pygmy leatherjacket, Brachaluteres jacksonianus. 15.4 m.
 

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 14.2 m.
 

Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 12.9 m.
 

Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 12.8 m.
 

Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri. 12.8 m.