Dive Details

Location

Date

Thursday 25 April 2019

Time

12:00pm - 2:23pm

Buddy

Cody Sheriden

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 15 metres

Duration

142 minutes

Surface interval

Maximum depth

15.2 m

Average depth

10.6 m

Water temperature

19.2°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEST

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

High

12:10am

1.66m

Low

7:08am

0.58m

High

1:03pm

1.23m

Low

6:24pm

0.80m

Details

For our second dive, Cody and I dived The Steps. This time I was trying out twin 10.5L tanks using Cody's Halycon Evolve 60lb wing. I only had air in the tanks so this was both a test of the setup as well as to empty the tanks so I could fill them with Nitrox. Twin 10.5L with Nitrox would be perfect for The Leap to The Monument while The Steps is closed. Cody had 2x7L sidemounted tanks again.

We jumped in from the platform and put our fins on in the water before swimming out on the surface. When we were ready we descended to the kelp/sand. The visibility seemed a little down from the earlier dive but the water temperature and surge was about the same.

We swam to the rocks in front of the entry/exit and I looked for "Raphael", the yellow Red-fingered anglerfish with pink mask, again. I still couldn't find him. I did find the small pale orange Red-fingered anglerfish in its usual spot.

We headed along the sand line towards Little Big Rock. I stopped at Pipefishes Hole and spotted the male Sawtooth Pipefish. I managed to get a few photographs before it swam off. I looked for the juvenile Weedy Seadragon in the kelp just past Pipefishes Hole and found it.

We went up the reef towards Di's Rock to see the large orange Red-fingered Anglerfish. On the way I spotted a small orange Red-fingered Anglerfish on a rock near the one where the large orange anglerfish was. The large orange Red-fingered Anglerfish was on the side of its rock.

We headed along the top of the reef towards Little Big Rock. We came on the large yellow Red-fingered Anglerfish on the rock it's been for the last 2 weeks. I looked around for the white Red-fingered Anglerfish but could not find it.

We continued along the top of the reef to the large rock behind Little Big Rock. The grey Red-fingered Anglerfish was still on the side of the rock and "David", the Pot-bellied Seahorse, was in the sea tulips on the smaller rock below the large rock.

We swam past the basket star and down to Diversity Rock. I looked for the other white Red-fingered Anglerfish but could not find it.

We continued on to the white male pygmy pipehorse. I took some photographs and then looked for the pink male but could not find him.

We followed the top of the reef towards Big Rock. I found George's orange Red-fingered Anglerfish on the large rock near Hand Rock where it had been on the previous dive.

We swam past Big Rock and looked around on the rocks on the Leap side of Big Rock. We don't often have much time to spend there. We didn't see anything of interest but it was nice having the air and time to go slowly.

I came back below Big Rock and saw the juvenile Bridled Triggerfish out on the sand.

Cody was along the reef on the Steps side of Hand Rock. He'd spotted a Klein's Butterflyfish. I took some photographs.

We headed back up to George's orange anglerfish. I took some more photographs before we headed back towards The Steps. As I was heading towards Slope Rock I noticed a small salmon Red-fingered Anglerfish on the side of the rock. This was the second new anglerfish I'd found on the dive.

We continued along the top of the reef, slowly. We had plenty of air so we could take our time. I was looking for more anglerfish and for pygmy pipehorses. We stopped at the white male pygmy pipehorse. I again looked for the pink male and any others but only saw the white male.

I had another look for the white red-fingered anglerfish around Diversity Rock. I figured it was still around and it was a matter of looking at the right angle to see it. I didn't find it.

We swam past the basket star and on to the large rock behind Little Big Rock. The grey anglerfish was still on the side of the rock and "David" was still in the sea tulips on the lower rock.

As we were heading towards the large yellow Red-fingered Anglerfish, Cody spotted a couple of Painted Stinkfish on the sand. We watched them for a while.

We stopped at he large yellow anglerfish and then I looked around the area for the white Red-fingered Anglerfish that used to be in the area. I didn't find it.

We headed to the new small orange anglerfish and the large orange anglerfish before dropping down to visit the juvenile Weedy Seadragon again. I popped back up to see the new orange anglerfish to make sure I knew where it was.

As we were heading back near where the other seahorses used to be I spotted a juvenile Yellow Boxfish. I headed up the reef a bit in search of more anglerfish. All I found was a juvenile cleaner wrasse.

We swam to the rocks in front of the entry/exit to look for "Raphael". Cody left me to do his deco. I still had plenty of air so I was going to stay until I found "Raphael". I swam up to the small orange anglerfish, took a couple of photographs and when I moved back I spotted "Raphael" on the next rock. I took some photographs of him and then headed slowly to the boulders spotting an octopus on the way.

I was into deco on all my computers. My Garmin had me only just into deco and I cleared that before I go to 5 metres. The Perdix had me requiring 3 minutes at 3 metres and the Atom 9 minutes at 3 metres. I stayed at 5 metres until the Perdix cleared deco and I started my 5 minute safety stop. I finished the safety stop and ascended to 3 metres to finish my deco commitment. While I was there I spotted a juvenile Weedy Seadragon.

By the time I'd finished taking photographs of the juvenile weedy I can cleared deco and swam underwater to the exit. It was actually quite easy to get out even though I had 2 10.5L tanks on my back.