Dive Details

Location

Date

9 August 2014

Time

1:35pm - 2:49pm

Details

The Leap was a lot rougher than I expected from Willy Weather's forecast of a 1.2 metre swell but it was still diveable and I needed to see my seahorses. It was a bit too rough to use the low ledge so I slid down the rocks holding the camera as high as I could.

I descended and swam to the sand line at 60° although it was a bit tough going due to the surge. At the sand line the visibility was 5 meters or so but there was a lot of particulate matter in the water.

I headed towards The Steps, as usual. I found the rock where "Bob" and "Lucy", the pot-bellied seahorses, hang out, but I could find neither. I continued on and eventually found "Rosie" on her usual rock. No other males have yet turned up for her.

I swam on despite the poor visibility and the surge. I was hoping to see some weedy seadragons but I suspect they were all hiding. I managed to find "Southern Cross" and "Pierre" but could not find "Richie". I think I am having to give him up as lost.

Some distance on I managed to find a weedy seadragon taking some protection under a rock. I kept of towards The Leap and found two more weedy seadragons on the sand line.

After I got to the basket star I headed up from the sand line and tried to find "Big John", the orange form undescribed angler. I made a few transects near The Steps looking for "Big John" but did not find him. Despite their camouflage, I am convinced that if you sight them you see them so I must not have swam over "Big John".

I swam t the shallows for my safety stop and exited at The Steps. The exit was quite easy despite the surge.

Seas

Rough and surgy

Visibility

5-8 metres

Duration

73 minutes

Maximum depth

20.8 m

Average depth

13.4 m

Water temperature

14.9°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

12:50am

0.27m

High

6:45am

1.42m

Low

12:28pm

0.35m

High

7:01pm

1.95m

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, ("Rosie"). 19 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 17.1 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 16.9 m.
 

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

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Southern Cross"). 16.8 m.
 

Eastern smooth boxfish, Anoplocapros inermis. 17.2 m.
 

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 15.6 m.