Dive at The Steps, Kurnell, NSW on Sunday 20 April 2014

Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 20 April 2014

Time

7:26am - 8:35am

Details

Conditions were still a little rough in the bay but looked a lot better than what I had heard about Saturday. The surface water did not look all that clear but we thought we'd still give it a go and bail if the visibility didn't improve.

We jumped in at The Steps and the viz was only 1-2 metres. It did not look promising at all, although, it was still early and so it was quite dark which made it look worse. By the time we got to the sand line and kelp it was maybe 2-3 metres. We pushed on towards The Leap.

After 20 or so metres, the visibility was up over 5 metres and by the time we'd go to little big rock it was over 10 metres. When we got to the basket star it was not on the usual white sponge but down on a brown sponge below it, and open. It is not often we get to see it open.

We moved along the sand line a bit further and then headed up the reef to the hollow where we'd seen the pygmy pipehorses. I found the hollow with ease but could not see either pipehorse. Sheree came to the rescue and found what is probably the female we'd seen previously on the other side of the hollow. She could not find the male.

We headed back to the sand line and the visibility was now around 15 metres, although there was a bit of particulate matter in the water. There was also quite a bit of surge. We found a couple of weedy seadragons on the sand.

We turned and swam back up the reef, checking out the pygmy pipehorse on the way. On top of the reef we found another weedy seadragon.

We then swam to the boulders and did our safety stop near the Plesiastrea colony and exited at The Steps.

Buddy

Sheree Papuni

Seas

Surgy

Visibility

2-15 metres

Duration

66 minutes

Maximum depth

15.1 m

Average depth

11.1 m

Water temperature

21.2°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

6:07am

0.40m

High

12:08pm

1.35m

Low

5:46pm

0.59m

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.