Julian Rocks – Nursery and Cleaner Cave

The Nursery is where we start most of our dives at Julian Rocks. It is the most sheltered and most shallow area around the island with a maximum depth of only 10-12 metres. The fish life in the Nursery is amazing, there are lots of schools of smaller fish, friendly Blue Gropers and plenty of juvenile fish who spend their “childhood” in the shallow waters hiding in the coral and in rocky crevices. Lots of anemones make this a great habitat for our local clownfish and also for all sorts of small crabs and shrimps. This is a great spot to find cuttlefish, octopus, Mantis Shrimps, Porcelain Crabs, Nudibranchs, Frogfish and countless other interesting smaller creatures. It’s a paradise for macro photography. During Grey Nurse Shark season it is also not unusual to run into the endangered shark along the sand trenches of the Nursery. Likewise, Leopard Sharks and Mantas cruise through the Nursery in summer.

At the Northern end of the Nursery, is one of the hot-spots for Manta Rays around Julian Rocks: the Cleaner Cave. Big rays such as Mantas, Eagle Rays or Shovelnose Rays are quite common in this area. Most likely, divers will also see some huge Snapper and quite often a big old Loggerhead sleeping inside the Cave.

Images Copyright John Natoli