Dive Details

Location

Date

Monday 18 September 2017

Time

1:25pm - 2:52pm

Details

With the way the dives at Kurnell have been going of late we thought it would be better to dive closer to low tide than high as the incoming tides have been bringing in dirty water. Additionally, low tide was after midday and a dive closer to high tide would have been too late in the day for me.

We jumped in at The Steps and waded out because the tide was so low. Once ready we descended to the sand line. The visibility was not bad considering how close we were to low tide but there was a lot of fine particulate matter in the water: it was probably close to 5 metres. There was some surge and the water temperature was between 15 and 16°C. We turned left and headed towards Big Rock.

We hadn't gone far when we came across a weedy seadragon. It was one of the males that is missing one of its pectoral appendages. He didn't have any eggs. There was also a fiddler ray partially buried in the sand.

We continued along the sand line and I checked out all the clumps of red algae hoping to find more red widebody pipefish. I didn't find any until I got to the pair I found on Friday. They were still in the same alga.

Farther along I found the rock where Roney had found the black painted angler on Thursday and I managed to find the angler again today. Again there was too much particulate matter in the water for photographing black anglers.

We swam on to Little Big Rock. The yellow red-fingered angler was on the same rock. On Little Big Rock itself I easily found the male pygmy pipehorse but after an extensive search I couldn't find the female.

We headed for Diversity Rock. I looked for the white red-fingered angler we'd seen on Friday but it had moved. I spotted another weedy seadragon on the sand line and photographed it before looking for the angler again. On Diversity Rock itself I found the male pygmy pipehorse but could not find the female.

I swam up to New Basket Star Rock and looked around the area for the other red widebody pipefish without success.

I then made a bee line for Big Rock. The current was quite strong and the visibility had deteriorated until it was only around 2 metres. At the rock below Hand Rock I found the black painted angler and the female pygmy pipehorse. I then looked on Big Rock and found my red male pygmy and Roney's pinkish male pygmy. I then turned to head back to The Steps. I hadn't gotten far from Big Rock when I bumped into Roney who indicated the viz was terrible.

I lost Roney on the way back. I swam via Diversity Rock and then Little Big Rock. At Little Big Rock I had another look for the female pygmy. I also visited the yellow red-fingered angler.

I continued on to the black painted angler and then the pair of red widebody pipefish before heading up the reef to the boulders. At the boulders, I ascended to 5 metres and started my safety stop as I headed to Split Rock. I finished my safety stop at Split Rock and then swam to the exit. It was a bit surgey at the exit and the low tide made getting on to the platform a little more difficult but it was a safe exit.

Buddy

Roney Rodrigues

Seas

Some surge

Visibility

2 to 5 metres

Duration

86 minutes

Maximum depth

13.8 m

Average depth

11.2 m

Water temperature

15.8°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

12:44am

0.26m

High

6:47am

1.45m

Low

12:36pm

0.38m

High

6:58pm

1.80m