Garden Jules

A Ruby Brittlestar Ophioderma rubicund found on the seabed of "Garden Jules"

Garden Jules^[1][2][3] is the name of a shallow dive site found on the Western side of Precipice Cove, Bradshaw Sound, New Zealand. This site has a depth range of 10–15 metres (33–49 ft). From a practical point of view, it can only be accessed by a liveaboard boat ( the nearest land access point is Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound, which is a 2-hr boat ride away.)

This sheltered site is suitable for a last dive of an overnight visit to the Doubtful Sound complex of fiords. It lies close to the all-weather mooring points used by overnight excursions at the head of Precipice Cove, so can be visited using a rigid-hulled inflatable boat. With a climb of the 660 metres (2,170 ft) high Wilmot Pass behind Deep Cove, this shallow dive offers a gentle way to see black coral with minimal risk of a building up of nitrogen credits.

The area is covered in mussel beds across a 20 metres (66 ft) wide gritty shelf that is roughly 50 metres (160 ft) in length. With no steep drop-off, large trees that have fallen into the fiord stay in situ, propped up by their large branches. Divers can safely move in and around this "artificial" reef, which is home a variety of tube anemones, deadman's fingers (Alcyonium digitatum) and sea squirts (Ascidiacea). As the trunks are the main cover on the shelf and with small catsharks found close by, the trees also provide a home for schools of spotties (Notolabrus celidotus) and the brightly coloured but small and hard to spot yellow-black triplefin (Forsterygion flavonigrum). The latter is an interesting fish which changes colour from a bright yellow to translucent depending on whether it is in season for spawning.

At its southern edge at around 12 metres (39 ft), the shelf gently slopes off into the deep. Here lie a few large rocks where visitors can see beautiful examples of black coral (Antipatharia fiordensis) kept clean by snake stars (Astrobrachion constrictum).

The “Jules” (or jewels) in this garden site are however the variety of sea stars, such as the biscuit-star (Pentagonaster pulchellus), the eleven-armed sea star (Coscinasterias calamari a) and the ruby Brittle star (Ophioderma rubicund) which feast on the bed of giant horse mussels (Atrina zelandica) and Kina (Evechinus chloroticus), scattering their discarded shells across the flat sea bed.

References

Coordinates: 45°25′S 167°16′E / 45.417°S 167.267°E / -45.417; 167.267