For my second dive I did a solo at The Steps. The great conditions were too good to waste. I jumped in at The Steps and descended to the sand line. Visibility had dropped a little but was still 5 to 10 metres. The temperature was still around 18°C and there still wasn't much surge. Right at the sand line I found a juvenile half-moon triggerfish. I turned right and headed towards Big Rock.
As I swam along just up from the sand line I found a giant cuttlefish hiding in the rocks. A little further along I found the first weedy seadragon for the dive.
Behind Little Big Rock I found the salmon coloured red-fingered anglerfish. On the sand line below Little Big Rock I found the second weedy seadragon. On Little Big Rock itself I found a cryptic pygmy pipehorse.
I continued on to Diversity Rock and found a third weedy seadragon on the sand in front of Diversity Rock. I checked Diversity Rock for pygmy pipehorses but found none.
I swam up to the basket star and then on the the red alga with the pair of red widebody pipefish. They were both back in the same alga.
I headed for Big Rock. On the way I found the egg of a crested horn shark wrapped to some kelp. A little further on I found a small giant cuttlefish.
At the sloping rock I found the pink male pygmy pipehorse but no other pygmies.
I looked all around Big Rock for the ornate ghostpipefish but could not find them. I did find a pair of displaying reaper cuttlefish. Their patterns were amazing.
I turned and headed back towards The Steps, going via the sloping rock and the pink pygmy, and then on to the pair of red widebody pipefish and the basket star. I looked around the area and found the Nembrotha purpureolineata nudibranch.
I checked Diversity Rock again for pygmies but found none, but found a small cryptic female on the large rock after Diversity Rock.
I continued on to Little Big Rock and spotted the same cryptic male pygmy pipehorse I saw earlier in the dive. I then headed for the boulders and started my safety stop while swimming to Split Rock. I finished my safety stop and exited at The Steps. |
