Dive at The Leap, Kurnell, NSW on Sunday 14 February 2016

Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 14 February 2016

Time

10:34am - 12:12pm

Details

Another beautiful day on Botany Bay and The Leap looked fantastic. We jumped in from the low platform, descended and swam at around 30%deg; to the sand line, arriving near the rock where I last saw "Bob" and "Lucy". Visibility was around 15 metres but it was cold at around 16°C.

We swam along the sand line towards Seahorse Rock looking for the Miamira magnifica nudibranch with the commensal emperor shrimp. I found the exact spot I'd seen it yesterday but had to hunt around a bit to finally find it. The shrimp was still on it. Noel left me to catch up with Di and I continued on my own.

At around Seahorse Rock I saw the first weedy seadragon (PT2015081601). It was the juvenile I first saw last August south of The Leap.

I swam on to Seadragon Alley where I saw 5 weedy seadragons: the female with the cut first appendage (PT2013122201), another female (PT2015011102) who I first saw January 2015, a male with some eggs (PT2014030803), a newish one (PT2015122201), another male with eggs (PT2016012602).

Near the end of Seadragon Alley I caught up with Noel and Di. They'd found a robust ghostpipefish. After pointing it out to me they continued on their way. Just after Seadragon Alley I saw a pair of mating octopus.

Between Seadragon Alley and Big Rock I saw 3 weedy seadragons: a juvenile from last year (PT2015051001), the female with the deformed body (PT2014030901), and a male with eggs that looked like they were hatching (PT2014091301).

Just after Big Rock I found another robust ghostpipefish. This was not the same one I'd seen yesterday and was a bit smaller.

Just before the basket star I saw the same robust ghostpipefish I'd seen yesterday. I then doubled back and ascended the reef to see the two pygmy pipehorses, the female (IL2015072601) and male (IL2016021001).

I descended to the sand line again, swam past the basket star and stopped at the rock with chimney sponge. I saw the juvenile pygmy pipehorse (IL2016021301) on this rock.

I swam on to Diversity Rock. "Arnold" was in the sponges on the rock behind Diversity Rock and "Noel" was low down on the left of the same rock. "Rosie" was on the rock to the left and above Diversity Rock. The two pygmy pipehorses were in the Carijoa colonies, the female (IL2015123101) and the male (IL2016011002). After a bit of searching I found the ornate ghostpipefish in front of Diversity Rock. I could not find "Daniel" or the angler.

I left Diversity Rock and headed to the other seahorses, passing the two Miamira magnifica nudibranchs along the way. Both "Di" and "Mikhail" were on their usual rock. I then swam to the boulders, did my safety stop and exited at The Steps.

Buddy

Noel and Di Conlon

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10 to 20 metres

Duration

98 minutes

Maximum depth

21.0 m

Average depth

14.4 m

Water temperature

15.7°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

1:30am

1.60m

Low

7:43am

0.45m

High

1:48pm

1.49m

Low

8:03pm

0.42m

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. 19.7 m.

Nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 20.6 m.

Emperor shrimp, Zenopontonia rex, on nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 20.7 m.

Emperor shrimp, Zenopontonia rex, on nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 20.8 m.

Emperor shrimp, Zenopontonia rex, on nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 20.7 m.

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015081601). 20.7 m.

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2013122201). 17.9 m.

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015122201). 16.7 m.

Robust ghostpipefish, Solenostomus cyanopterus. 17 m.

Robust ghostpipefish, Solenostomus cyanopterus. 16.9 m.

Mating common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 14.8 m.

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015051001). 14.8 m.

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014030901). 14.9 m.

Hatching baby on the tail of a male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014091301). 14.5 m.

Robust ghostpipefish, Solenostomus cyanopterus. 14.8 m.

Robust ghostpipefish, Solenostomus cyanopterus. 14.5 m.

Robust ghostpipefish, Solenostomus cyanopterus. 14.6 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12.5 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016021001). 12.4 m.

Robust ghostpipefish, Solenostomus cyanopterus. 14.8 m.

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 12.9 m.

Juvenile Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016021301). 13.2 m.

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Arnold"). 12.3 m.

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.7 m.

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Noel"). 12.9 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015123101). 12.7 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2016011002). 12.6 m.

Ornate ghostpipefish, Solenostomus paradoxus. 13.5 m.

Ornate ghostpipefish, Solenostomus paradoxus. 13.6 m.

Nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 11.9 m.

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 10.7 m.

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Mikhail"). 10.6 m.