St. Regis Vommuli
This month, we created 5 new coral frames of various sizes, kindly sponsored by guests, the resort, and online. We also conducted 21 maintenance snorkels/dives and monitored a total of 16 existing frames – our twice-yearly monitoring involves cleaning and repairing frames, and uploading new photographs to our website for our kind sponsors. 🙏
Of the five new coral frames, one medium-sized frame was sponsored for the Marriott APEC area leadership meeting in our resort for this month. This frame was number 360, and sponsored in commemoration of the Marriott Serve 360 commitment.
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.
🪸 Coral Reef Maintenance
Most of our work was focused on the Adopt a Coral site, with new coral frames deployed at the Dive Centre site. Over the coming months, we aim to continue expanding to create a continuous restoration trail that will guide guests from the Dive Centre to our Whale Bar site.
In partnership with the island’s Dive Centre, maintenance work this month increasingly shifted from snorkelling to scuba diving, improving efficiency and allowing more detailed work to be carried out on the coral frames. A total of 16 coral frames were photographed for monitoring. By the end of the month, we observed an increase in frames becoming partially buried by sand, as well as greater macroalgae coverage. However, these changes have not had any significant impact on the corals, which continue to show healthy growth and good overall condition.
At the beginning of the month, we discovered large ghost nets entangled on the JJA side of our house reef. We also found what appeared to be a coral shade, likely drifted from a nearby resort’s restoration site. With the support of the LP Department, the ghost nets and debris were successfully removed from the water, preventing further damage to the reef and reducing the risk of entanglement for marine life. This month, we also hosted two guided snorkelling experiences for staff members and leaders from the Marriott Marketing team, to showcase our coral restoration efforts and the island’s marine life.
Marine Education & Awareness
🤿 Marine Biology Excursions – this month we attended two dolphin cruises (with 10 guests participating), and two turtle quest snorkelling excursions (with 6 guests). Megafauna sightings were also recorded during snorkelling tours, fun dives, and routine maintenance visits across various sites around the island. The most common sightings this month were octopus and blacktip reef sharks.
📱 Socials – This month’s social media activity included content for PADI Women’s Dive Day, celebrated on 18 July 2026, with five Instagram stories created to highlight women in diving, marine biology, and ocean conservation. The stories helped recognise the important role of women in the dive industry while connecting the celebration to Reefscapers’ wider marine conservation work.
Work also began on the annual coral growth reel, which will showcase three years of coral-frame development. The reel will provide a clear visual example of how much coral can grow over time with regular monitoring, maintenance, and restoration support, helping guests and online audiences better understand the long-term value of the coral frame programme.
🆔 NEW! Sea Turtle ID & Monitoring Project – Finn is planning to document the resident sea turtles around Vommuli and nearby islands. The project uses photo-identification methods to compare the left and right facial profiles of individual turtles, alongside carapace patterning, sighting dates, and location records. This will allow the team to build a database of individual turtles using the reefs around the resort and surrounding areas.
This project will support both conservation monitoring and guest education. By identifying individual turtles, the team will be able to record repeat sightings, track site fidelity, and better understand how frequently certain turtles are observed across different reef areas in the Dhaalu Atoll. This information can also help guides and marine biologists share more meaningful stories with guests during snorkelling, diving, and turtle excursions, encouraging visitors to look closely at natural markings and understand how individuals can be recognised without disturbance.
These sightings may provide useful supporting information about habitat use, reef condition, and food availability, particularly when combined with other reef monitoring data. Over time, the database may help identify important turtle areas, seasonal patterns, movement between sites, and any visible injuries or changes in individual condition. The project is still in development, but it has strong potential to become a valuable tool for long-term monitoring, conservation awareness, and guest engagement at Vommuli.
Sheraton Full Moon
This month, we built 7 new coral frames (adding ~315 coral fragments to the reef), kindly sponsored by guests and the resort, and we ended the month by planting frame number SH953. We monitored (cleaned, repaired, photographed) a total of 143 existing coral frames across all our sites, uploading the photos to our website for our kind sponsors. We actively replace any dead corals, adding a further total of ~1160 new fragments to our existing frames, and continue to spot and remove any corallivorous species (96 Drupella snails, 1 cushion star, 1 COTs).
To see the progress of your own frame, please visit our dedicated Sheraton monitoring page where we upload new photos every 6 months or so.
Reef Maintenance
Blue Hole & Water Villas – Roughly 18 frames in the Blue Hole were cleared and repopulated, and we are very happy with the progress. Frames located at the Water Villas continue to grow well and we have retagged many frames. There is a patch of A. digitata which has grown rapidly at this site, so we have been harvesting this coral to help repopulate the Blue Hole and parts of a new shallow reef at the Dive Centre (Heyo Reef, below).
Dive Centre – Lots of maintenance work was completed on the coral frames located to the left of the Dive Centre. The frames are growing well, however, it has been noted that many colonies of A. muricata are in poor health on some frames which were planted around seven months ago.
Eagle Ray Rock – Frames are showing healthy progress, although there was a cushion star and many Drupella snails found on the frames. The site was closely checked and all predators were removed. Previously, we had issues with the spread of red sponge on the frames; however, this month we noticed this had reduced.
Heyo Reef – We have been trying to establish a resilient shallow reef over the last two months. To the right of the Dive Centre, at an average depth of 2.5m, we have planted around 30 coral frames, mostly populated with P. verrucosa and A. tenuis. Fragments for these frames were taken from colonies at the Dive Centre that were seen to be resilient to the increased water temperatures from the past few months. Many of the fragments are already showing signs of attachment, with low mortality rates. We have named this site “Heyo Reef” as it is a garden providing hope and resilience, so we are looking forward to seeing the corals grow and flourish in the coming months.
Coral Bleaching Surveys
We continue to observe the NOAA Coral Reef Bleaching status which is informing us on how warm the water currently is and the prediction for the upcoming weeks and months. There is hope for the water to cool down from July onwards, so we should see corals showing less signs of stress.
Dive Centre – Bleaching surveys of 321 coral colonies continued throughout the month on the small frame structures located at approximately 4.5 metres depth to the right of the coral pyramids. Our last set of bleaching surveys were conducted on 27 July, which established a positive change in coral health. There was an increase in coral colonies scoring a 1 (healthy). We noted only two additional dead colonies (score of 5), while we see many other colonies bouncing back.
Water Villas – Bleaching surveys of 336 coral colonies located around the Water Villas continued throughout the month. The last set of surveys at the Water Villas site was on 29 June. Similar to the Dive Centre site, there was an increase in coral colonies scoring a 1 (healthy). Additionally, we are seeing a reduction in the number of colonies scoring 3-4, while we have zero colonies scoring a 5. We had a slight increase in dead colonies, but overall the reef has progressed a long way after the high temperatures.
This is frame SH058 located at the Water Villa coral site. We have been monitoring and photographing the coral paling and bleaching over previous months, so we are pleased to report a full recovery back to health in most of the colonies by the end of July!
Marine Life
🎙️ Marine Talks – A total of 7 guests attended marine talks this month over three sessions. One special talk was held on Shark Awareness Day, providing an opportunity to focus specifically on conservation, and the importance of sharks within marine ecosystems.
🐬 Dolphin Cruises – Seven dolphin cruises were attended this month. Spinner dolphins were seen on all cruises, and bottlenose dolphins were observed on one cruise. Two potential cruises were cancelled due to poor weather and choppy conditions (which makes it difficult to spot any cetaceans).
🤿 Snorkelling Excursions – We attended nine Snorkel Safar excursions this month. The sites visited included Kurumba House Reef, Kanduoih-giri (Stingray Point), and the Sheraton House Reef. Undwerwater visibility increased this month, allowing us to make 121 individual megafauna sightings; the most commonly recorded species included blacktip reef sharks and pink whiptail rays as usual, along with hawksbill turtles, spotted eagle rays and cowtail stingrays.
Shark Awareness Day was celebrated on 14 July. The afternoon commenced with a special guided snorkelling activity at the Dive Centre with our marine biologists, which proved very popular, hosting thirteen guests. It was especially exciting as we were lucky enough to observe five blacktip reef sharks – perfect for Shark Awareness Day. Guests later participated in a special shark-themed marine talk at Anchorage bar.
Marine Education & Awareness Activities
♻️ EcoSort Challenge – Five EcoSort challenges were carried out this month, enjoyed by a total of 19 guests. The activity averaged 4 guests per session, lasting around 30 minutes each.
👨👩👧👦 Junior Marine Biologist – our new children’s activity very quiet this month.
📱 Instagram – this month, across the whole Reefscapers team, we created and uploaded 6 posts, 8 reels, and 42 stories. The post with the highest reach was the recreation and update of one of our old viral videos, showing the growth of a coral frame growth at our sister resort the St Regis. This post clocked up an amazing 650k views and 23k likes!! Despite a productive and successful month, our Instagram follower count remains stubbornly around the 35k mark.
