Dive at The Steps, Kurnell, NSW on 26/10/13

Dive at The Steps, Kurnell, NSW on 26/10/13 - ATJ's Diving Site

Dive Details

Location

Date

26 October, 2013

Time

11:58am - 1:23pm

Details

My aim on this dive was to find anglers. First, I had to find "Big John" who had moved from the rock we'd seen it previously. Second, I wanted to find some new anglers.

I entered at The Steps and headed straight to the sand line. I swam along the sand line towards The Leap until I got to tiny orange painted angler, "Little Andrew". This angler was on the rock next to where the yellow form of the undescribed angler, "Big John", had been seen previously. I checked this rock thoroughly again but could not find the angler. I then started checking adjacent rocks. I hadn't got far when I discovered what I believe is "Big John" on a rock higher up from the sand line and diagonally opposite "Little Andrew".

The first part of my mission accomplished I started looking for new anglers. Rather than swimming along the sand line as we usually do, I headed up and looked over all the sponge covered rocks in from the sand line. I gradually moved towards The Leap going from rock to rock. After less than 30 minutes of searching I managed to find a tiny painted angler on a small sponge in a fairly barren space. I named this angler "Robin". I then swam down to the sand line so I could work out exactly where it was and I'd be able to find it again. Once I was confident I'd be able to locate it, I stayed on the sand line and headed towards The Leap.

On my way towards The Leap, I passed the Miamira magnifica nudibranch at its usual location as well as the basket star. The visibility was getting worse the further I went so when I arrived at the large sponge covered rock I again headed up from the sand line and investigated more of the higher sponge covered rocks along the way back to The Steps.

I eventually made my way back to the painted angler, "Robin" and then from here headed back to the sand line to cover the ground I'd missed on my way out. I followed the sand line back to "Little Andrew" and "Big John" and then headed to the shallows for a safety stop next to the colonies of stony coral, Plesiastrea versipora. I exited at The Steps.

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5-8 metres

Duration

85 minutes

Maximum depth

14.9 m

Average depth

11.0 m

Water temperature

17.9°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

1:58am

1.15m

Low

7:31am

0.70m

High

1:59pm

1.44m

Low

8:53pm

0.57m

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.