Dive at The Monument, Kurnell, NSW on Sunday 1 December 2019

Dive Details

Location

Logged dive number

1729

Date

Sunday 1 December 2019

Time

10:49am - 12:31pm

Buddy

Mandy Durand

Seas

Slight

Visibility

5 to 10 metres

Duration

102 minutes

Surface interval

22:51 (hh:mm)

Maximum depth

13.1 m

Average depth

10.7 m

Water temperature

18.8°C

Dive Profile from Citizen Hyper Aqualand

Tides at Botany Bay AEDT

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

High

12:27am

1.24m

Low

5:49am

0.64m

High

12:22pm

1.70m

Low

7:16pm

0.44m

Details

Mandy joined me for my dive today at The Monument. I was finally going to be shown Pygmy Playground. Conditions looked great and we knew it was going to be a good dive.

We got in at the protected area between Sutherland Point at The Steps (the spot marked Inscription Point on Google Maps). Mandy had not entered here before but I had shown it to her as an exit. We waded out to the drop-off and when ready we descended and swam to the sand line. I checked out the rocks for anglerfishes on the way. The visibility was around 10 metres and maybe better. There was no current and barely any surge. The water temperature was around 19°C. We turned left and headed towards Sutherland Point.

We hadn't gone very far when I came across a Weedy Seadragon. A little farther along we spotted a second one.

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12m.

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12.1m.

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12.2m.

I had a quick look around Block Rock and the adjacent sponge covered rock but didn't find anything of interest.

We continued to the wall. I kept my eye out for weedies on the sand. I spotted the dwarf lionfish in the orange finger sponge.

Dwarf Lionfish, Dendrochirus brachypterus. 12.4m.

I swam up to the sponge and sea tulips where I have seen "Jason", the pot-bellied seahorse, but he wasn't there. Mandy called me down to the mini-wall, where the pot-bellied seahorses were last year. She pointed out a male pygmy pipehorse (IL2019120101). THIS was Pygmy Playground. I've been here so many times but never once looked for pygmy pipehorses. I spotted a Nembrotha purpureolineata nudibranch nearby. Mandy pointed out another 2 male pygmy pipehorses on that mini-wall and I spotted a female. While I was looking for more, Mandy found another three on the next rock towards The Steps. We found 8 in total, although I only saw 7.

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019120101). 12.2m.

Nudibranch, Nembrotha purpureolineata. 12m.

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019120102). 12.5m.

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019120102). 12.6m.

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019120103). 12.4m.

Female Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019120104). 12.5m.

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019120105). 12.8m.

Female Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019120106). 12.7m.

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019120107). 12.8m.

While we were photographing the pygmy pipehorses, a group of divers swam up, kicking sand everywhere, to look at some Weedy Seadragons in the kelp. After they had gone I took photographs of one of the weedies. I had planned to photograph the other as we headed along the wall.

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12.7m.

Weedy Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus. 12.9m.

A little farther along the wall, Mandy called me over to point out an umbrella snail. I probably see one of these every second year or so.

Umbrella snail, Tylodina corticalis. 12.8m.

We were going to continue along the wall, and I was going to photograph the other weedy, when another group of divers swam towards us along the wall. Just like the others, they were kicking up the bottom. We decided to swim over the wall the flat area on the other side.

Mandy indicated there's been a small Painted Anglerfish in the area over the wall but we weren't able to find it.

We continued along the reef. I was looking for the orange Red-fingered Anglerfish I'd spotted last Saturday but Mandy found it first. It was less than a metre from where I last saw it.

Red-fingered Anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 10.4m.

Red-fingered Anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 10.3m.

I swam up to Seahorse Rock to look for the Nembrotha purpureolineata nudibranch. It wasn't on the sand. I spotted one, perhaps the same one, on the side of Seahorse Rock.

Nudibranch, Nembrotha purpureolineata. 8.9m.

As I headed back down to the reef from Seahorse Rock I spotted another Nembrotha purpureolineata nudibranch.

Nudibranch, Nembrotha purpureolineata. 11.8m.

We continued along the reef to Split Rock. I looked on Split Rock for anglers and seahorses but found none.

I looked on the low rock after Split Rock for the tiny juvenile pygmy pipehorse I'd seen last Saturday but I could not see it.

We followed the reef towards Sutherland Point. I spotted a small orange Red-fingered Anglerfish in the algae along the way. I pointed it out to Mandy.

Red-fingered Anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 12.5m.

We continued to the rock with the Dendronephthya colony. I'd found a pair of pygmy pipehorses on this rock last Saturday. I found then both of them (IL2019112302, IL2019112303). I pointed them out to Mandy.

Male Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019112303). 12.2m.

Female Sydney Pygmy Pipehorse, Idiotropiscis lumnitzeri, (IL2019112302). 12.3m.

While Mandy was photographing the pygmies I spotted a grey Red-fingered Anglerfish on the next rock, next to a small Capnella colony. I pointed it out to Mandy.

Red-fingered Anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 11.9m.

Red-fingered Anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 11.8m.

We followed the reef for a little farther and then I asked Mandy if she wanted to see the seahorse. She did, so we followed the NW-SE Wall and then up to the corner. As we swam past the spot where I'd seen a large orange Red-fingered Anglerfish last week. It wasn't there but there was a large Crested Horn Shark on the sand below the spot.

We swam past the large Carijoa covered rock on the corner and then started along the base of the East-West Wall. We hadn't gone far when I spotted another small orange Red-fingered Anglerfish. It was actually its mouth, and what looked like teeth, that caught my attention.

Red-fingered Anglerfish, Porophryne erythrodactylus. 11m.

We stayed close to the bottom of the wall while I was navigating to area I'd seen the male Pot-bellied Seahorse on my last two dives. I had assumed the seahorse was "Tim", who I had first spotted on 19 October. We got to the spot and I found a seahorse immediately. I then noticed there were two male seahorses! One of them, I believe was the one I first spotted on 19 October ("Tim") and the other was definitely the one I'd seen at this spot on the last two dives. I shall call him "Jose".

Male Pot-bellied Seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Tim"). 10.7m.

Male Pot-bellied Seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis, ("Jose"). 11.2m.

We both had just enough air to travel a little farther along the wall to look for "Naomi", the yellow Whiite's Seahorse. We swam up to the area and had a quick look in the many orange finger sponges. We couldn't find her.

We ascended the wall and headed along the top of the wall. We ascended to 5 metres and headed south to the flagpoles, doing our safety stops along the way. We kept swimming until it was too shallow and waded out.

Camera gear

Camera

Nikon D500

Lens

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

Housing

Ikelite 6812.5

Lens port

Ikelite Flat Port 5502.41

Strobe(s)

2 x Ikelite SubStrobe DS161