Dive Details
Location
Date
Monday 15 May 2017
Time
10:31am - 12:03pm
Details
We got in at the little bay around the corner from the flagpoles. We surface swam right out and down towards The Steps so that we were right over the Deep Wall before we descended. The visibility was so good we could not only see the top of the wall but also the sand below it. The top of the wall is at around 10 metres and the sand around 14 metres so visibility was probably 15 metres.
We descended to the wall. As we descended a large ray swam under me. It's wingspan was probably 1.5 to 2 metres and so not the largest I have seen at Kurnell but still quite large. The water temperature was around 20°C and there was a bit of surge. We headed towards The Steps.
We swam as far as Block Rock and looked around the area for animals but found nothing of interest. We turned and slowly headed back towards The Monument.
I was swimming along the side of the wall and Roney was swimming along the top of the wall when he spotted an orange red-fingered angler.
I looked in the gap where we'd seen the ornate ghostpipefish but I couldn't initially see it. I swam around looking for the black angler and Roney found the ornate ghostpipefish. It was closer to the wall than I had been looking. He suggested there was a second in the area and went off to look for it while I photographed the first. I then noticed the larger female nearby. Roney came back and I pointed her out to him.
We continued our way along the Deep Wall and near The Monument end I checked the low rock for the two small pygmy pipehorses. I couldn't find either of them. I swam on to the Carijoa covered rock but Roney called me back to show me a Nembrotha purpureolineata. I'm sure this is the same one Dama pointed out a week or so ago.
At the Carijoa covered rock I looked for the dark pink male pygmy pipehorse. I initially couldn't find it and then I saw it lower down on the shore side of the rock.
We swam on to the flat rock to the shore side and I found the small red male pygmy pipehorse hiding in the weed. I then found a cryptic male and a cryptic female.
We swam up to the rock with the White's seahorses. I found the female on the side of the rock where she's been recently and eventually found the male on top of the rock, sort of above her.
I swam up to the Capnella colonies where the cowries had been but I could only find the one cowrie.
I headed back down to Split Rock and then on to the rock where the 4 pygmies used to be. There was a red male in the branching sponge and I found a female below him.
We made our way up the North-South wall over the top of the reef to the East-West wall. We started our safety stops along the top of the wall and then turned south to exit just inside the point.
Buddy
Roney Rodrigues
Seas
Some surge
Visibility
3 to 15 metres
Duration
91 minutes
Maximum depth
12.8 m
Average depth
10.1 m
Water temperature
18.7°C
Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand
Tides at Botany Bay AEST
Note that tides at dive site may vary from above location.
Low
5:15am
0.53m
High
11:14am
1.32m
Low
4:42pm
0.70m
High
11:11pm
1.69m
Camera gear
Camera
Nikon D7000
Lens
Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED
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.
Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 10.1 m.
Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 10 m.
Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 10 m.
Red-fingered angler, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 9.7 m.
Male ornate ghostpipefish, Solenostomus paradoxus. 11.9 m.
Female ornate ghostpipefish, Solenostomus paradoxus. 12 m.
Male Sydney pygmy pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2017042308). 12.1 m.
Egg cowrie, Ovula costellata. 7.1 m.