Dive Details

Location

Date

Thursday 4 May 2017

Time

11:35am - 1:23pm

Details

I'd missed diving at Kurnell on the weekend because I was working (and I had a cold). Apparently, the conditions were outstanding and I missed them. I didn't dive on Tuesday as I was still recovering from the cold and I spent the day building a float for my camera rig. I was so hopeful that the great conditions would persist until today and the forecast all week of flat conditions suggested it would be good.

I had a look at conditions at The Steps and it was flat. At The Leap it was a little rougher but still pretty good. After gearing up and walking down to The Leap, the swell had gotten a little larger but still not too bad. I was able to jump in from the low platform. It was quite choppy on the surface but the visibility looked to be around 5 metres. I descended and headed at around 45° to the sand line. I intended to go at 60° but the incoming tide kept pushing me to the left. I wanted to get to the sand line a little farther southeast than normal to look for the robust ghostpipefish. I hit the sand line just before Lucy and Bob Rock. Visibility here was between 5 and 10 metres, it was around 20°C and there was some surge. I turned left and headed towards The Steps.

I hadn't been swimming long before I came across the robust ghostpipefish other divers had seen. One is a beautiful green and the other brown. They were right on the sand not far from Lucy and Bob Rock. The surge made photography a little difficult.

I continued on to Ian's Pygmy Rock. It took me a little time to find the red male pygmy pipehorse as he was quite low down on the rock. I searched the rest of the rock and finally managed to find a small female. I don't know if the other two I found on 2 April are still on the rock.

I swam on past Seahorse Rock and just before Bent Stick Rock I found a juvenile weedy seadragon and just after and below Bent Stick Rock I found an adult weedy seadragon.

At Southern Cross Rock I found the white male pygmy pipehorse. I could not find the female.

I continued on to Seadragon Alley and found 2 weedy seadragons reasonably close together. Near the end of Seadragon Alley I found a Guenther's butterflyfish.

I swam past Big Rock and started looking for pygmy pipehorses on some of the usual rocks. It was not until the long sloping rock just past Hand Rock that I found one. I think it is one I have seen before. I looked over the rock and found 2 more, which I believe are new.

I looked at more rocks where I've seen pygmies before, including Roney's Pygmy Rock but didn't find any. I spotted another weedy seadragon just below Old Basket Star Rock.

I swam up the reef to Miamira Rock but didn't see the nudibranchs. The basket star was there.

At Diversity Rock I found the red male pygmy pipehorse I'd spotted on the 23rd April but couldn't see any others. I looked for the female pygmy pipehorse I've been seen on the next big rock from Diversity Rock but couldn't see it.

I looked closely at Little Big Rock for pygmy pipehorses but found none. I then headed to the boulders and started my safety stop as I swam to Split Rock. I finished my safety stop and exited at The Steps. The tide was quite low so I had to climb onto the ledge but it was an easy exit.

Seas

Some surge

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

107 minutes

Maximum depth

21.5 m

Average depth

15.4 m

Water temperature

19.8°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

2:52am

1.64m

Low

9:40am

0.50m

High

3:58pm

1.40m

Low

9:43pm

0.73m