Marriott Team Diaries: April 2025

St. Regis Vommuli

This month, we created 4 new coral frames of various sizes, kindly sponsored by guests, the resort, and online. A total of 25 coral frames were checked as part of our 6-monthly monitoring, involving cleaning and repairing, and uploading new photographs to our website for our kind sponsors 🙏.
In total, we conducted 12 maintenance snorkels/dives, and inspected all of our coral frames around Vommuli island.

To check the progress of your frame, please visit our dedicated St Regis monitoring page where we upload new photos every 6 months or so.

🪸 Adopt-A-Coral Site – This month’s maintenance focused on the relocation of coral frames from the Dive Centre to this site. So far, 30% of the relocation has been completed. The new pathway of relocated frames has also been completed, providing a clear and accessible route for guests to reach the restoration site directly from the shore.
An increase in macroalgae was observed at the beginning of the month, but regular maintenance visits helped reduce this by the end of April. No coral bleaching has been reported at the AAC site, and the colonies appear healthy, despite the seasonally elevated ocean temperatures.

🪸 Arrival Jetty Site – One new large coral frame was added to this site. The existing frames continue to show good health, with minimal macroalgae growth compared to other locations. Mild bleaching was observed only on the newly transplanted frame. In the coming month, we will focus on expanding this site by adding medium-sized frames relocated from the Dive Center.

🪸 Dive Centre Site – Nearly all small coral frames have been relocated to our AAC site. Approximately 80% of the frames from the channel area have also been moved. The remaining channel frames and those on the house reef side will be relocated before the start of a construction project in June. Bleaching was observed on some wild coral colonies surrounding the site towards the end of the month.

🪸 Whale Bar Site – Two small coral frames were relocated here, and all coral colonies at this site are continuing to show healthy growth. During maintenance visits, we remove any drifting marine debris as it can become entangled on the wild reef. In the coming weeks, we plan to continue relocating more small frames here.

🎙️ Marine Talks – A total of four Marine Talks were held this month, with eight guests participating. At the Kids Club, ten sessions were conducted, with a total of 32 children attending, and featuring “Shark Yoga” and “Whales and Dolphins Yoga”. During the Easter celebrations, an external marine biologist led a special marine-themed event for kids. Additionally, we organized a coral awareness workshop at the Children’s Centre in the local island of Kudahuvadhoo, where 21 children aged 7 to 10 learned about coral reefs and ocean conservation.
Our new office space is still under construction. So far, the ground and first floor structures have been built, and we expect the remaining works to be completed in the coming months.

📱 Socials – Two posts and one story were published on Reefscapers’ social media channels this month. Additionally, we were featured in two interviews conducted by the resort’s Marketing Department.

🤿 Marine Biology Excursions – In April, three Dolphin Cruises, one Coral Garden, and three Turtle Quest excursions were attended, with a total of 24 guests participating. Additionally, megafauna sightings were recorded during routine maintenance visits across various sites around the island. The most commonly observed species this month were blacktip and whitetip reef sharks.
Additionally, one training session was conducted for our new Resort hire colleagues, providing an introduction to our coral restoration initiatives and marine conservation work.