Dive Details

Location

Date

Friday 15 September 2017

Time

12:04pm - 1:31pm

Details

We had planned to dive The Leap but the way the visibility had been getting worse as the tide increased and as we got closer to Big Rock I was satisfied with diving The Steps instead. Plus it would be a quicker dive as I had to work tonight.

We jumped in at The Steps and when we were ready we descended and headed for the sand line. Visibility was around 5 metres but there was a lot of particulate matter in the water making it look worse. The water was quite calm with but there was some surge. The water temperature was just under 16°C. We turned right and headed towards Big Rock.

As I always do, I checked all the red algae clumps for pipefish. We had gone perhaps half way to Little Big Rock when I discovered two red widebody pipefish in an alga. These were some way from the others we have seen so I have to assume they are different ones. One of them was noticeably smaller so I'm positive that at least that one is new to me.

We continued along the sand line and I spotted a weedy seadragon: a male with eggs. It looks like some of the eggs have already hatched.

We came to the rock where Roney spotted the black painted angler yesterday and I spotted it quite quickly. It had moved around quite a bit but was still on the same rock.

At Little Big Rock I saw the yellow red-fingered angler on the adjacent rock. On Little Big Rock itself I found both pygmy pipehorses hanging on to the same branch of Carijoa.

We continued on to Diversity Rock. I spotted the male pygmy pipehorse and after a bit of searching I also found the female. Dama then called me and pointed out a white red-fingered angler on the rock just before Diversity Rock. It was quite large. The worsening visibility and surge made photographing it quite difficult.

I headed along the sand line towards Big Rock ahead of Dama and Roney. On the rock below Hand Rock I spotted the female pygmy pipehorse. While looking at the rock I noticed a small black painted near the other end of the rock. The visibility had decreased significantly and it was impossible to get a decent photograph of the angler. On Big Rock I found my red male pygmy pipehorse and Roney's male pygmy. Roney and Dama swam up and I showed them the angler.

I turned and headed back towards The Steps. I stopped at Diversity Rock and took some more photos of the white red-fingered angler.

At Little Big Rock I found both pygmy pipehorses again. The yellow red-fingered angler was still on the adjacent rock. The black painted angler was also on its rock.

I made sure I could find the pair of red widebody pipefish again before heading for the boulders. I ascended to 5 metres and did my safety stop while swimming to Split Rock. I finished my safety stop and exited at The Steps.

Buddy

Roney & Dama Rodrigues

Seas

Slight

Visibility

3 to 5 metres

Duration

87 minutes

Maximum depth

14.4 m

Average depth

11.7 m

Water temperature

15.4°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

3:48am

1.24m

Low

9:31am

0.56m

High

4:06pm

1.65m

Low

10:56pm

0.40m