Dive Details

Location

Date

Sunday 11 June 2017

Time

11:36am - 1:10pm

Details

For the second dive we did The Steps again but this time we were going right towards The Leap.

We jumped in and the surface water was still cold and murky. After descending to the sand line it opened up. Visibility was not as good as the first dive at 5 to 10 metres but it was after high tide so is not surprising. Water temperature was much the same (~18°) as was the surge. We turned right and headed towards Big Rock.

I spotted a juvenile weedy seadragon early into the dive. It was around the kelp not far from the entry point.

We headed along the reef looking at the red algae for pipefish but found none. We had to avoid the fishing lines from boats as we swam.

At Little Big Rock we saw 2 cryptic pygmy pipehorses in the Carijoa and the small orange red-fingered angler on the adjacent rock.

We swam on to Diversity Rock and found the red male pygmy pipehorse in the Carijoa. I had a quick look for others but could not find any.

I headed up past the basket star to the pair of wide-body pipefish which are still in the same alga. I hope they hang around.

We continued along the top of the reef for some time looking for more pipefish in the red algae. We checked a lot of algae but found no pipefish.

We got near Big Rock and I found the red male pygmy pipehorse on the sloping rock. I didn't find any others in the area.

We went to the other side of Big Rock and found the pair of ornate ghostpipefish. They weren't together but were still close to each other.

We headed back along the reef back to the pipefish and then headed for the boulders. We did our safety stop as we headed to Split Rock. We finished our safety stop and surfaced just out from the exit. Roney went first and when I was out I swam for the exit. Getting in through the rocks was very difficult due to the shallow water and the surge. Every time I nearly got through I got dragged back out again. I eventually made it to the shelf and from there it was easy.

Buddy

Roney Rodrigues

Seas

Surgy

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

93 minutes

Maximum depth

15.0 m

Average depth

11.2 m

Water temperature

17.7°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

3:33am

0.47m

High

9:28am

1.37m

Low

2:59pm

0.62m

High

9:31pm

1.81m