Dive at The Monument, Kurnell, NSW on 22 June 2014

Dive Details

Location

Date

22 June 2014

Time

11:53am - 1:24pm

Details

Although I have done a couple of drift dives from The Steps this year, it had been a while since I had done a full dive at The Monument and conditions were perfect. I entered at the little bay around the corner from the flagpoles and descended to the sponge garden. I had a quick look for anglers before heading towards The Steps.

I followed the sponges until they ended and then headed over the wall to area we'd previously seen "Honey", the pot-bellied seahorse and other seahorses. I carefully checked out the area for seahorses but found none. I went a little further towards The Steps before turning and heading back towards The Monument.

After following the wall, I came across a Klein's butterflyfish. They tend to be common in Autumn further north (e.g. Seal Rock), but I'm not sure I have seen them in Sydney before.

I continued on through the sponge covered rocks looking for the orange form undescribed anglers we had seen on a number of occasions previously. I didn't find any in their original areas but managed to find "Oliver" fairly close to where Sheree had found it in February. Again, I was surprised how easy it was to spot (once I was looking in the correct direction).

Not far from the angler I found a Nembrotha sp. nudibranch. I suspect this was more luck than good spotting as it was almost hidden.

I continued to the corner and then around looking for anglers and seahorse but found none. I followed the bottom of the main wall right around and past where I had previously seen "Angus", the little orange painted angler, and then ascended the wall, and headed to the beach, doing my safety stop along the way. I exited at the beach.

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10-15 metres

Duration

91 minutes

Maximum depth

13.5 m

Average depth

9.7 m

Water temperature

18.1°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

4:01am

1.41m

Low

10:09am

0.50m

High

4:43pm

1.65m

Low

11:15pm

0.60m

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.