Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 14 January 2017

Time

7:34pm - 9:03pm

Details

We jumped in at The Steps as it was getting dark and descended to the sand line. It was difficult to assess the visibility due to the failing light but it would have been at least 5 metres. Water temperature was around 18°. We turned right and headed for The Monument.

We stayed close to the sand line but checked out the sponge covered rocks up from the sand line. Sheree spotted a Ceratosoma brevicaudatum nudibranch and pointed it out to me. A little further along I saw some tiny amphipods on a red chimney sponge. I called Sheree over and as I was waiting I spied a small grey red-fingered angler at the base of the sponge. I also spotted a tiny pufferfish in an orange sponge shortly later. On the rock we first saw "Honey", the pot-bellied seahorse, I spotted a nudibranch.

We continued on to Split Rock where I found a yellow White's seahorse in an orange sponge. There seem to be more White's seahorses at Kurnell since the Storm. Just past Split Rock I found 2 pygmy pipehorses on the same rock I've seen them in the past. I found a third one on the very next rock. Sheree found a clown Toby asleep on an orange sponge.

Over by the wall I found a dwarf lionfish out on a hunt and then a male weedy seadragon with eggs. It looked like there was a tail coming out of one of the eggs.

We were both getting a bit cold so we moved up to shallower water and followed the top of the wall. The water temperature increased to 22° and we were no longer cold but we completed our safety stop and headed towards the shore. We surfaced and were still some ways out so we descended again and headed towards the beach. I found a rock flathead on the sand. We swam into the beach and got out.

Buddy

Sheree Rose

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 metres

Duration

87 minutes

Maximum depth

13.0 m

Average depth

9.0 m

Water temperature

17.2°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

Low

4:04am

0.36m

High

10:32am

1.95m

Low

5:10pm

0.19m

High

11:11pm

1.44m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D7000

Lens

Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED

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.

Mourning cuttlefish, Sepia plangon. 10.5 m.
 

Nudibranch, Ceratosoma brevicaudatum. 9.8 m.
 

Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus, ("Cat"). 10.4 m.
 

Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus, ("Cat"). 10.5 m.
 

Amphipod, Icilius sp. 10.3 m.
 

Juvenile clown toby, Canthigaster callisterna. 10.9 m.
 

Nudibranch, Okenia mellita. 11.1 m.
 

Pygmy leatherjacket, Brachaluteres jacksonianus. 10.8 m.
 

Female White's seahorse, Hippocampus whitei. 11.5 m.
 

Female White's seahorse, Hippocampus whitei. 11.4 m.
 

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2017011402). 12 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2017011401). 12 m.
 

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2017011403). 12 m.
 

Reaper cuttlefish, Sepia mestus. 11.6 m.
 

Clown toby, Canthigaster callisterna. 11.7 m.
 

Amphipods, Icilius sp. 10.8 m.
 

Male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2016021601), with eggs and tail of a hatchling. 10.9 m.
 

Male weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2016021601). 10.9 m.
 

Dwarf lionfish, Dendrochirus brachypterus. 12.8 m.
 

Dendrophylliid coral. 12.3 m.
 

Sea star, Uniophora granifera. 9.8 m.
 

Rock flathead, Thysanophrys cirronasus. 1.9 m.