Dive at The Steps, Kurnell, NSW on Saturday 24 October 2015

Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 24 October 2015

Time

12:36pm - 1:38pm

Details

We jumped in at The Steps and descended to the sand line. The visibility was not great but considering it was low tide it was ok. As I was swimming through the kelp Rosie called out to me to point out a weedy seadragon. It was a male (I believe) that I have not recorded before (PT2015102401). He's missing the first appendage on his head.

We continued along the sand line towards The Leap. We swam up from the sand line to the rock where "Di" and "Joseph", pot-bellied seahorses, have been and found "Di". "Joseph" is still missing.

We swam back to the sand line and followed it along past Little Big Rock where Rosie pointed out a pygmy leatherjacket. There was a male weedy seadragon (PT2015061401) right near Little Big Rock. He had eggs when I last saw him 3 weeks ago but now he has none.

We arrived at Diversity Rock to find "Rosie" in the Carijoa colonies and Sara pointed out "Noel" a little further down the rock. "Arnold" was on the rock behind Diversity Rock. I found the female pygmy pipehorse (IL2015091201) in the Carijoa colonies and Rosie found a male. This appeared to be another new male (IL2015102401). On the rock to the left of Diversity Rock we found the red-fingered angler, "Kim" and Rsoie spotted an octopus behind that rock. She also spotted the Miamira magnifica on the next rock over.

We headed along the sand line past the basket star and up to the other pygmy pipehorses. I found the pink male (IL2015092701) straight away but it took me a while to find the female (IL2015072601). While I was looking for the female Rosie and Sara were playing with an octopus under a nearby rock.

We descended to the sand line again and headed back to Diversity Rock. On the way we saw two more weedy seadragons. One was PT2014092001 and the other was my favourite one with the deformed body (PT2014030901).

Back at Diversity Rock, "Rosie" had moved to the pink sea tulips, "Noel" had moved further down the rock and the two pygmy pipehorses were hanging out together.

We were getting cold so we swam to the boulders, did our safety stops and exited at The Steps.

Buddy

Rosie, Sara

Seas

Surgy

Visibility

3 to 8 metres

Duration

61 minutes

Maximum depth

14.3 m

Average depth

10.9 m

Water temperature

18.0°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

6:12am

1.48m

Low

12:08pm

0.43m

High

6:24pm

1.66m

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.

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015102401). 9.5 m.

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Di"). 10.2 m.

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2015061401). 12.7 m.

Pygmy leatherjacket, Brachaluteres jacksonianus. 11.9 m.

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.1 m.

Nudibranch, Miamira magnifica. 12.6 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse. Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091201). 12.1 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse. Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015102401). 12.1 m.

Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus, ("Kim"). 12.2 m.

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Noel"). 12.7 m.

Common Sydney octopus, Octopus tetricus. 12.5 m.

Basket star, Astrosierra amblyconus. 12.3 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse. Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 12 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse. Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 11.7 m.

Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse. Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015092701). 11.6 m.

Female Sydney pygmy pipehorse. Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015072601). 11.9 m.

Weedy seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, (PT2014092001). 14.1 m.

Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus, ("Kim"). 12.2 m.

Female pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Rosie"). 12.1 m.

Male pot-bellied seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Arnold"). 12.2 m.

Sydney pygmy pipehorses, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2015091201, IL2015102401). 12.1 m.