Around the Block: Deep Lukewarm Ocean

The ocean! How couldn’t you fall in love with Minecraft’s biggest, bluest, soggiest biome? There’s kelp! There’s sand! There’s seagrass! There are no creepers whatsoever! Grab a boat, and let’s dive into our biome of the month – the deep lukewarm ocean.

Deep lukewarm oceans became a part of the Minecraft biome collection in July 2018 as part of the aptly-named Update Aquatic. Originally they were called lukewarm deep oceans, but that was a terrible name, so we got out our renaming stick and waved it in the air while whispering the ancient incantation and its new name – deep lukewarm ocean – came into being. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would have been if we’d kept the old name? Ridiculous.

The deep lukewarm ocean is mostly made up of water, yes, but you’ll find a few other things there. Sand, making up the ocean floor. Seagrass and kelp, growing in clumps that are easily harvested. And a few animals too – squid, glow squid, dolphins, and fish – cod, pufferfish, and tropical fish, to be precise. 

None of those things, though, make the deep lukewarm ocean worth the trip. What makes it worth the trip are the ocean monuments that you’ll very occasionally find in the depths. These ancient temples should be entered with caution – and a lot of water breathing potions. Inside, you’ll find valuable materials like prismarine, sea lanterns, and sponges. But they’re watched over by fearsome Guardians, who drive off any intruders with laser beams.

On Earth, the lukewarm oceans that lie between the poles and the tropics are full of life, and contain huge circular currents called “gyres” that move heat away from the equator. In the northern hemisphere, these gyres rotate anticlockwise, and in the southern hemisphere they rotate clockwise.

What this means for your beach holiday is that in the northern hemisphere you’ll tend to find warmer water on the western edge of an ocean basin – like the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic. The eastern edge, on the other hand, is colder and full of nutrients, and therefore fish populations are much higher.

So pack a water-breathing potion or two, and take a plunge into the deep lukewarm ocean – where the waters are just warm enough to be inviting, and the treasures are as bountiful as the kelp. Sea you there!