Dive at The Steps, Kurnell, NSW on Sunday 6 September 2015

Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 6 September 2015

Time

1:05pm - 2:26pm

Details

As I was walking back to the car park after my dive at The Monument, three different people, Kim, Tomas and Mic, all told me about a red pygmy pipehorse that had been seen at The Steps. Mic gave me a detailed description of where he saw it, including a nudibranch it was near - although his description of the nudibranch had me slightly confused. I wasn't sure if he meant the Miamira magnifica which I could find or a Nembrotha sp. nudibranch which I would have to find. I after getting back to the car I swapped tanks and drove up to The Steps.

I jumped in at The Steps, descended to the sand line, turned right and headed towards The Leap. Based on his description, I figured it was past Little Big Rock but not as far as Big Rock. I stuck to the sand line as it was on a rock right on the sand line.

After passing Little Big Rock, I found a male weedy seadragon (PT2015061401) with eggs and then I located the Miamira magnifica nudibranch and looked on the same rock for the red pygmy but could not find it. I checked for the seahorses which were nearby, although I couldn't see "Rosie".

I headed further along the sand line carefully checking each rock until I got to Big Rock. I then turned and headed back, visiting my two regular pygmy pipehorses (IL2015070501 and IL2015072601) on the way. That way I'd at least see a couple of them.

I descended to the sand line and continued my search, past the basket star and back to M. magnifica. I looked very carefully on the rock with M. magnifica but could not see it. (I found out a day later that it was actually on the next rock from M. magnifica. I'll have to go back for another look.)

I had another look for "Rosie" but could not find her. "Noel" and "Arnold" were pretty much where they'd been yesterday.

I continued along the sand line looking for the red pygmy pipehorse and unusual nudibranchs. I found an Nembrotha purpureolineata and an Nembrotha sp. but no red pygmy. When I got to the rock which tells me I'm in line with "Di", I ascended to her rock and found her hiding in the yellow sponge she often hides in.

I then headed for the boulders and spotted a weedy seadragon (PT2014123003) on the way. At the boulders I did my safety stop. While doing my safety stop I saw that it was 2:25pm and I had an appointment at Penrith at 3:30pm. I got out very quickly and almost ran up the steps. I managed to get to Penrith just before 4pm.

Seas

Surgy

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

81 minutes

Maximum depth

15.8 m

Average depth

12.8 m

Water temperature

17.1°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

2:21am

1.23m

Low

8:14am

0.57m

High

2:48pm

1.56m

Low

9:39pm

0.53m

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.