Dive Details
Location
Date
Friday 12 February 2016
Time
9:20am - 10:50am
Details
It was calm at The Leap so we jumped in from the low platform. We descended and swam at around 30° to the sand line. We arrived near the rock where I last saw "Bob" and "Lucy" the pot-bellied seahorses. Visibility was 10 to 15 metres and there was almost no surge.
We swam along the sand line towards The Steps. Before we reached Seahorse Rock I discovered a Miamira magnifica nudibranch. I'd seen them near The Steps but not this close to The Leap. What I didn't realise until I looked at the photos the next morning was this nudibranch had a commensal emperor shrimp, Periclimenes imperator.
I found a weedy seadragon (PT2015062401) just after Seahorse Rock. We didn't see any more weedy seadragons until we hit Seadragon Alley.
In Seadragon Alley we saw 9 weedy seadragons: PT2015011102, a juvenile that we'd seen before (PT2016011701), the female with the cut first appendage (PT2013122201), a male with lost of eggs that had started to hatch (PT2014030803), the new one I'd seen on Wednesday (PT2016021001), one of the juveniles from last year (PT2015091101), another newish one (PT2015122201), another male with eggs coming to an end (PT2016012602), and another juvenile from last year (PT2015051001).
After Seadragon Alley we saw the female weedy with the deformed body (PT2014030901).
After Big Rock, we headed up the reef to the rock with the pygmies I'd found again on Wednesday. Both the female (IL2015072601) and the male (IL2016021001) were there.
We headed back to the sand line, past the basket star and on to Diversity Rock. "Daniel" was in the sea tulips, "Arnold" and "Noel" were in the sponges behind Diversity Rock. "Rosie" was on the rock to the left of Diversity Rock. The female (IL2015123101) and male (IL2016011002) pygmy pipehorses were in the Carijoa colonies.
We swam on towards the other seahorses and again saw the two Miamira magnifica together along the way. Both "Di" and "Mikhail" were on their usual rock.
We headed to the boulders, did our safety stops and exited at The Steps.
Buddy
Mike Scotland, Eddie Ivers
Seas
Slight
Visibility
10-15 metres
Duration
90 minutes
Maximum depth
21.6 m
Average depth
14.2 m
Water temperature
20.1°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides at Botany Bay AEDT
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.
Low
5:45am
0.32m
High
12:01pm
1.78m
Low
6:25pm
0.25m
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.
Juvenile giant cuttlefish, Sepia apama. 21.3 m.
Nudibranch, Miamira magnifica, with commensal emperor shrimp, Zenopontonia rex. 21.4 m.
Juvenile giant cuttlefish, Sepia apama. 20.5 m.
Juvenile giant cuttlefish, Sepia apama. 20.8 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015062401). 19.9 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015062401). 19.8 m.
Juvenile reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 19.9 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015011102). 18 m.
Juvenile weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 16.6 m.
Juvenile weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 16.8 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2013122201). 17.7 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2013122201). 17.9 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030803). 18.1 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030803). 18.4 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2016021001). 18.4 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2016021001). 18.3 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015091101). 17.6 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015122201). 17.3 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015122201). 17.3 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2016012602). 17.2 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030901). 15.2 m.
Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030901). 15.3 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12.8 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016021001). 12.6 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12.8 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016021001). 12.6 m.
Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 13.4 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Arnold"). 12.7 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Noel"). 12.7 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 13.4 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Daniel"). 13.3 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011002). 12.8 m.
Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015123101). 13 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 13.6 m.
Nudibranchs, Miamira magnifica. 12 m.
Nudibranchs, Miamira magnifica. 12.1 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Mikhail"). 11 m.
Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Mikhail"). 11.2 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 11.1 m.
Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 10.9 m.