Dive Details

Location

Date

Friday 27 July 2018

Time

8:13am - 9:53am

Details

Today I planned a double dive: the first dive would be at The Monument and the second at The Steps. Roney joined me for the first dive. Conditions were calm although the tides meant that both dives would be after high tide. As conditions were similar to Wednesday I was confident the visibility would hold for the second dive.

We parked at The Steps and walked along the shore to the protected area about 2 thirds of the way to The Monument. We waded out, donned our fins and swam on the surface to the drop-off. We descended and headed to the sand line. The visibility was over 5 metres. The water temperature was around 16°C. There was very little surge and we didn't notice any current. We turned left and headed towards Sutherland Point.

We followed the sand line to Block Rock and then stayed higher on the reef to the wall. We swam along the wall and then Roney pointed out "Ginger", the female pot-bellied seahorse he'd found yesterday. She's quite beautiful.

We continued along the wall and then swam up and over it near the end to the rocks where we've seen pygmy pipehorses and anglerfishes previously. I found a pink male pygmy pipehorse on the upper side of the right rock. While I was photographing it, Roney found a female on the other side of the rock.

We swam on to Slope Rock and surrounding rocks. I was looking for pygmies and anglerfishes but found none. On the slope below Seahorse Rock I found the brown female White's seahorse in the orange finger sponge. I then swam up to Seahorse Rock and found one of the Nembrotha sp. nudibranchs behind it.

We headed along the reef past Split Rock and on to the area we see a few red-fingered anglerfish. Roney had mentioned the large grey red-fingered anglerfish so I went to rock he'd said and there it was. Not far past the anglerfish I found the small Nembrotha nudibranch that's been there for some weeks. Roney then pointed out a larger one.

We swam to the bottom of the wall and then along the sand at the base. On the second rock with Carijoa colonies I found the Volva volva cowrie.

As we were approaching the point I found a Phyllodesmium poindimiei nudibranch that was out in the open and easy to photograph. As I was taking photographs, Roney attracted my attention and pointed up. There was a massive school of salmon swimming above us and making it quite dark. We watched them for a while and I went back to the nudibranch.

As we swam along the slope I spotted an eastern frogfish. We continued to the point and then up and over to the large rocks covered with Carijoa. We swam on south-east past the largest one to the rock where the bright orange red-fingered anglerfish has been. It was still in the same spot but was facing in the opposite direction from last Saturday.

We swam west along the East-West Wall to the spot where I have seen the 4 pygmy pipehorses. I found one of the males straight away. As I was photographing it Roney pointed out the yellow and white female on the other side of the Carijoa colony the male was on. I looked around for the other male and the pink female but could not find them.

We swam back east and then south-east past the bright orange anglerfish. A few rocks past the bright orange anglerfish I found another orange red-fingered anglerfish. Roney was just ahead of me and I called to him but he didn't hear me.

We dropped back down over the deep wall and headed towards The Steps. We past the grey red-fingered anglerfish and continued on towards Split Rock. Roney was behind me. As I approached Split Rock it got very dark because the school of salmon were above me. The a large female grey nurse shark swam past me. It was not "Betty". It was more of a silver colour than "Betty" and had a tag just behind and to the left of her second dorsal fin. This means there are at least 2 female grey nurse hanging around Kurnell at the moment.

I stopped to photograph the brown White's seahorse in the orange finger sponge. Roney caught up with me and I asked him if he'd seen the shark but he didn't understand.

I dropped down to the sand to look for the juvenile weedy seadragon and I thought Roney was behind me. He headed for the exit as he was only diving with a 10.5L tank. I found the juvenile weedy not far from where it usually is.

I swam along the wall and visited "Ginger" again. She was on the same sea tulip but facing the other way.

I continued to Block Rock and then headed a bit shallower and swam to The Steps. As I got closer to The Steps I ascended to 5 metres and started my safety stop. I finished my safety stop around Split Rock and swam underwater to the exit. Roney was waiting on the shore.

Buddy

Roney Rodrigues

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

100 minutes

Maximum depth

13.2 m

Average depth

10.1 m

Water temperature

15°C

Dive Profile from Garmin Descent Mk1

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

Low

2:14am

0.43m

High

8:04am

1.32m

Low

1:35pm

0.56m

High

8:11pm

1.77m