Dive Details

Location

Date

Friday 27 July 2018

Time

10:53am - 12:30pm

Details

For my second dive I dived The Steps. Even though it was 3 hours after high tide, my dive on Wednesday showed that the visibility would hold.

I got in at the usual spot and put my fins on in the water as it was shallow. I swam out on the surface until I was above the kelp and then descended. Visibility was still over 5 metres and closer to 10 metres. The water temperature was around 16°C. There was gentle surge. I turned right and headed towards Big Rock.

I swam along the sand line to the orange red-fingered anglerfish. It wasn't in its most recent usual place and I looked around for a while before I finally found it on the opposite facing rock under an alga. I dropped back to the sand line and found a weedy seadragon immediately.

I continued along the sand line to the rock with the sea tulips and pygmy pipehorses - at least I thought I did but I actually overshot the rock and was looking at the wrong rock. I realised my mistake when the rock looked wrong and swam back to find the correct rock. I found the female pygmy pipehorse, "Di", straight away. With a bit of searching I found the male.

I swam on to the rock behind Little Big Rock. I looked for the pair of pygmy pipehorses there. I found the female first and then the male. The male was in a difficult spot to photograph.

I dropped down to Little Big Rock and found the salmon red-fingered anglerfish on the sand line side of the rock but higher up than it had been on Wednesday.

Just past Little Big Rock I looked for the pair of pygmy pipehorses I'd found on Wednesday. I was able to find the male but not the female.

I swam on to the juvenile orange painted anglerfish near Diversity Rock. It was sitting in a nice place for being photographed.

At Diversity Rock I found the male pygmy pipehorse behind the same sponge it had been on Wednesday. I then found a small pink female 20 centimetres to the right on the edge of Diversity Rock.

I swam up past the Basket Star and on to look for the grey red-fingered anglerfish. It was not in the spot I'd seen it on Wednesday (and on the last few dives). I kept heading towards Big Rock and found it on the northern side of Miamira Rock.

I bypassed Sponge Hollow and swam straight on to the rock with the one-eyed seahorse. I found her on the southern side of the rock.

I went a little farther towards Big Rock before turning and heading back towards The Steps. I passed the grey red-fingered anglerfish and swam on to Diversity Rock. The male pygmy pipehorse hadn't moved but the small female had and I had to find her again. The juvenile orange painted anglerfish had moved slightly to a less favourable spot.

I found the male pygmy pipehorse again on the rock just before Little Big Rock and the salmon anglerfish was still in the same spot on Little Big Rock. Both pygmy pipehorses were still on the rock behind Little Big Rock.

I swam on to the last rock with pygmy pipehorses, the rock with the sea tulips, and found both pygmies. The male had actually moved since I was here an hour or so ago.

I followed the sand line to the orange red-fingered anglerfish before heading to the boulders. I ascended to 5 metres and started my safety stop while swimming to Split Rock. I finished my safety stop and swam underwater to the exit.

Seas

Slight

Visibility

3 to 12 metres

Duration

97 minutes

Maximum depth

13.4 m

Average depth

11.0 m

Water temperature

16°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