The Monument to the Steps and The Steps 18 OCtober 2009

The last chance to dive Voodoo for this year was called off due to the swell (2.9M max from the south so Voodoo would have been hammered) We went around to the North facing Monument and Steps dive in Kurnell National Park  and did a double dive.
The DM was Rod and my buddy was Dylan.

First dive was from the monument so we dropped off our gear and drove our cars to the top of the steps before walking back down the hill (It is so much easier without the gear).

Upon descending we were surprised to see a rapidly moving turtle closely pursued by one of our divers with a camera. It was gone so fast I never had a chance to get a photo of him. We drifted with the outgoing tide towards the steps along the way we went found a small swim through which was pretty exciting. I always am hesitant before going through a swim through but always elated once I've done it. You never know what you will disturb under there and there is always the possibility of something going wrong and getting stuck but that is the thrill of the swim through. We spotted cuttlefish, octopus and a giant cuttlefish in the rocks. I took my first attempt at a video of a cuttlefish and a very curious blue groper kept coming in to see if there was a feed available.
 We did our 3 min safety stop and I was very impressed with our navigation as we surface about 20M from the Steps. This is a great site for learning navigation as there are a few landmarks around to give you some clues as to where you are.

The Second dive was from the steps and we planned a reciprocal navigation dive heading out at a bearing of 300 degrees. The visibility was very poor on the second dive and I lost sight of Dylan initially at about 5M. Luckily he had his torch and appeared out of the murk within a few seconds. We found an octopus in his scavenger garden and he shoved a large rock out of his hole at us. Searched hard for the illusive Weedy Sea dragon but was unable to find any . I have no doubt that they were there but they blend in so well with the kelp you need a trained eye or a stroke of luck to find one.