Coral Gardens (Rooi-els)

Understand

This site has interesting and varied topography and large numbers of colourful sponges, ascidians, soft corals and sea fans.

Position S34°18.144’ E018°48.795’ 1 Coral Gardens (Rooi-els) Entry area S34°18.117’ E018°48.672’ 2 Northern pinnacle 12 m. S34°18.126’ E018°48.684’ 3 Central pinnacle S34°18.136’ E018°48.691’ 4 Southern pinnacle This site is not in a Marine Protected Area. A permit is not required.

Name The site is named "Coral Gardens" for the abundant sea fans and soft corals found in the area. The hard "Noble Coral" is also found here. It could just as well have been named Sponge Gardens, but perhaps that doesn't sound so good.

Depth 18 m is likely on an ordinary dive, 20 m is conveniently accessible, and it is possible to get 30 m over the sand after a very long swim. This is the point on the east side of False Bay where the 30 m isobath approaches the shore most closely.

Visibility This is a site where the visibility is seldom good, though rare days of over 15m have been reported. It is quite common for the visibility to vary considerably with depth. It may be fairly good at the surface, maybe 6 to 8 m, but then drop off to 3 m or less below the thermocline, and on other occasions it may be cloudy with algal bloom near the surface and open up to 6 to 8 m some way down. When it is calm and there is little surge, the fine organic silt settles on the bottom, sometimes in swathes of several centimetres depth, and this is very easily disturbed by finwash, and can destroy the visibility very quickly. Divers without expert trim and buoyancy control are likely to mess up the viz quite rapidly on those rare days when it is good. The up-side is that very few people dive this site, so the viz is usually undisturbed by divers. Unlike the west coast of the Cape Peninsula, where a strong south-easterly wind often precedes an upwelling with good visibility, at this site there is no obvious correlation and a south-easter is often followed by an upwelling with

Getting there

Shore dive: Very limited parking at the side of Rocklands road (gravel). Turn off the R44 into Anemone street. Drive to the T-junction at the end and turn left into Rocklands road. The road swings to the right and then turns quite sharply to the left. At this point you should see a sloping rock face several metres high in front and a relatively open area sloping down to a series of small ridges and gullies and then the water on the right. Park as near to this corner as complies with the rules of the road, but not on someone's driveway. The path passes to the left of the boulder in the left foreground, then down between the ridges to the centre of the photo. The route continues between the ridges on the left side of the gap. Walk down between and over rock ridges to the entry/exit point at the side of the main gully. Access is limited to good weather with very low swell, and becomes tricky if south west swell picks up. The entry point is at the end of this little ridge. The water is quite deep beyond the end of the ridge and it is possible to simply jump off the end of the ridge. Getting out is a bit more of an exercise, as the rock is quite steep and encrusted with barnacles. Watch the sets, choose your moment and scramble up the end of the ridge from the mouth of the gully. Try to get high enough to be out of reach of the next wave before attempting to remove kit. Reinforced kneepads and gloves are highly recommended. It is not a good idea to come into the side gullies as you will then be caught by the next wave and thrown against the rock. The alternative exit at a ledge just to seaward (left) of this gully is an easier exit in moderate surge and is suitable for use at high tide. Exit can be hard on the knees if you keep your fins on, but if you take them off in the water it can be difficult to control your position for a clean exit. Keeping one fin on may be a workable compromise, but try not to lose the other. You will need to use both hands. A buddy can be help

See

Marine life

There are kelp forests inshore and in the gully. The reef is encrusted by a large variety of interesting invertebrates, including many kinds of sponges and colonial ascidians, often under slight overhangs, or in the darker depths. See the Gallery for more images, particularly of the variety of sponges at this site

Features Pinnacles, overhangs and ridges, with a few small cavern swimthroughs and a stone arch

Photography This is a good site for close-up photography of invertebrates, particularly sponges and colonial ascidians. The generally poor visibility means that the site is usually relatively dark, so artificial light will almost always be essential, and the suspended particles will cause backscatter if internal flash is used except for close up work. Macro equipment will almost always produce good results, but close-up wide angle equipment is also likely to be suitable, as many of the more colourful subjects are in the order of 100 to 500mm across.

Routes Enter and swim out to the mouth of the gully. There is good diving in all directions, deeper straight out.

Three pinnacles tour: Swim out due west over the boulder bottom of the entry gully, keeping to the left wall, through the kelp and over the ridges beyond the mouth, down onto the wide gully which has a flattish bottom and patches of pebbles at about 10.5 m depth. Swim along near the gully bottom with the higher rocks on your right hand side. At 13 m depth you should pass a small sand patch, followed by a low, broken ridge across the gully. At 15 m depth, pass a big patch of pebbles, followed by a low smooth rock, which looks as if it gas been worn by abrasion with stones. Continue past a large rock at 17 m depth on the right hand side of the gully with an orange wall sponge to the north, and a small gully branching off about north west. Continue along the side of the wide gully a short distance past a sand patch at 18 m depth to a fairly smooth ridge crossing the gully. The ridge