Dive at The Steps, Kurnell, NSW on Saturday 22 September 2018

Dive Details

Location

Date

Saturday 22 September 2018

Time

1:52pm - 3:13pm

Details

Today's dive was to take Vanessa Knutson, a gastropod researcher from Harvard, for a dive to show her some of the cool things we see in Sydney. She especially wanted to see a weedy seadragon. I had seen a male with eggs near Diversity Rock on Thursday so I knew I'd show her at least one. Somehow, a bunch of other people tagged along and there were 8 other divers in addition to Vanessa and me. It was going to be quite crowded.

The conditions were perfect with almost no swell. It was quite close to low tide but the visibility over the last week had been so good it didn't really matter what the tides were doing.

We got in at The Steps and swam out on the surface until everyone was ready. We had drifted a short distance towards The Monument so when we descended we were to the north-west of the entry/exit. The visibility was around 10 metres and the water temperature between 15 and 16°C. There was no surge and just a gentle current. We turned right and headed towards Big Rock.

We swam along the sand line over the kelp. We had not gotten very far when I spotted a weedy seadragon. After taking my usual head and flank shots I showed it to Vanessa.

As we approached the area where the orange red-fingered anglerfish with dark eyes was originally, I headed up away from the sand line to the rock I saw it on on Thursday. It wasn't there. I swam over to the next rock, a much larger rock and found it on the side of the rock. I pointed it out to Vanessa and the others.

I headed back down to the anglerfish's original rock and looked in the sea tulips for the male White's seahorse. It was still there. I waited for Vanessa to swim down and I pointed it out to her.

I swam on ahead, slowly, to the rock where the pair of pygmy pipehorses had been. I looked over the rock while I was waiting for the others to catch up. I wasn't able to find the pygmy pipehorses. This is the third dive now that I haven't found them there.

After the others caught up I headed along the sand line towards the rock where the large yellow red-fingered anglerfish had been. I hadn't gone far when Jeroen called me back and pointed into a crevice. I had a quick look into the crevice and saw a pipefish. I stuck the camera in and managed to get one photograph of this pipefish before it disappeared. I didn't know what sort of pipefish it was but when I looked at the photograph later I realised it was a sawtooth pipefish. I'd never seen one before. I kept the camera pointed into the crevice and looked through the viewfinder. I then spotted a juvenile upside-down pipefish. How cool to have two different species of pipefish in the same crevice. I got a few photographs of the upside-down pipefish and one turned out OK.

Once again I headed for the large yellow red-fingered anglerfish. This time I was called away by Rob Nolan who had found a grey red-fingered anglerfish on the side of the next rock along from Di's Rock. I found Vanessa and showed her.

Another attempt at getting to the large yellow red-fingered anglerfish was interrupted by Rob Fonseca who had found a cool tiny Dendrodoris krusensternii nudibranch. I tried to find Vanessa. I finally found her and as I was swimming back to the nudibranch I was distracted by a weedy seadragon and then I couldn't find the nudibranch again. Vanessa missed out on both.

I finally made it to the large yellow red-fingered anglerfish. It was in its usual spot. I pointed it out to the others but I couldn't find Vanessa. On the next rock I found the salmon red-fingered anglerfish in the same spot it had been on Thursday.

I swam on to the large rock behind Little Big Rock to look for the pygmy pipehorses. I found the female (IL2018072502) first and then the male (IL2018072501). Vanessa was near to so called her over and pointed them out.

I headed over to where the Nembrotha purpureolineata nudibranch had been on Thursday. It was still there. I tried to attract Vanessa's attention but she was looking for nudibranchs. I showed Rob Nolan and went to get Vanessa. On my way back I spotted an octopus in a gap in the rocks. I showed the Nembrotha purpureolineata to Vanessa.

We headed towards Diversity Rock and I pointed out my juvenile painted anglerfish on the way. I found the male weedy seadragon with eggs just below Diversity Rock. I took head and flank shots and then pointed him out to Vanessa. She was well pleased.

Vanessa indicated she was cold but I still had two more things to show her: the basket star and "Winx", the male pot-bellied seahorse. We swam past the basket star and I pointed it out. A little farther along on the sand I spotted a painted stinkfish and I pointed that out as well.

I swam on to the rock where "Winx" is and he was on the same sea tulip as Thursday. I waited for Vanessa to catch up and pointed out "Winx" to her. Mandy was nearby so I showed her, too.

We turned around here and headed for The Steps. We had the current behind us and even though it wasn't all that strong, we made quick progress. We came back via the salmon, yellow, grey, and orange red-fingered anglerfish so I could make sure that Vanessa had seen them all.

After the orange anglerfish we headed for the boulders and ascended to 5 metres and started our safety stop. We swam to Split Rock and when we had both finished we swam to the exit.

Buddy

Vanessa Knutson

Seas

Slight

Visibility

10 metres

Duration

81 minutes

Maximum depth

13.7 m

Average depth

10.3 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

12:38am

0.43m

High

6:37am

1.32m

Low

12:20pm

0.54m

High

6:42pm

1.61m

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D7000

Lens

Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED

Housing

Ikelite 6801.70

Lens port

Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41

Strobe

2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161

Photographs

Depth information, where present, indicates the depth of the camera when the photograph was taken and can be used to approximate the depth of the subject.