St. Regis Vommuli
This month, we created 6 new coral frames of various sizes, kindly sponsored by guests, the resort, and online. We also conducted 20 maintenance snorkels/dives and monitored a total of 34 existing frames – our twice-yearly monitoring involves cleaning and repairing frames, and uploading new photographs to our website for our kind sponsors 🙏
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
Our maintenance work primarily focused on the lagoon Adopt-a-Coral site, removing dead coral colonies from frames that were affected by last month’s bleaching event. The positions of many frames were remapped to improve the accuracy of restoration site records.
Three new coral frames were moved and installed in front of the Dive Centre. These additions will help expand restoration coverage around Vommuli and provide further opportunities to monitor coral growth and survival across new different site conditions.
🪸 World Ocean Day
On June 8, we celebrated World Oceans Day with a series of activities across the resort to raise awareness about marine conservation and actively engage our guests in coral restoration. This included a guided snorkelling excursion to the Adopt-a-Coral restoration site, where 28 adults and 3 children participated. During the snorkel, guests learned about our coral restoration efforts while helping collect healthy coral fragments from our largest nursery frames. We also had a sunset cocktail event featuring ocean-themed sand art and a coral frame building experience.
Marine Education & Awareness
🤿 Marine Biology Excursions – Two dolphin cruises were attended this month, with a total of 11 guests participating and two species being observed (Spinners and Bottlenose). Additionally, megafauna sightings were recorded during both snorkelling tours, fun dives, and routine maintenance visits across various sites around the island. The most common sightings this month were blacktip reef sharks and hawksbill turtles; additional species included squid, octopus, eagle rays, nurse shark, octopus, whitetip reef shark.
🚸 Education & Outreach – We participated in the resort’s Green Committee meeting, providing an opportunity to discuss current marine conservation activities and wider sustainability initiatives. Community engagement continued through a visit to the Kudahuvadhoo Children’s Centre, where we spent time with the children and took part in games and activities.
📱 Socials – We participated in an underwater photoshoot with the resort for the Oceans Day celebration campaign. We also were interviewed by Bliss Maldives for the St Regis media and marketing activities.
🎓 Welcoming Finn – This month, we welcomed Finn McConnell, our new marine biologist intern. Finn is completing an MSc in Marine Biology at the University of Southampton, with a semester abroad at James Cook University. “My first month at Vommuli has flown by, and I have already learned so much. I have been developing my coral monitoring and maintenance skills through both snorkelling and scuba diving, while helping to care for the coral frames around the island. On top of that, I have joined dolphin excursions, turtle cruises and guided snorkelling activities, collecting marine life data and sharing information about the reef with guests. It has been amazing to spend so much time in the water and experience such a wide variety of marine life while gaining practical experience in coral restoration. Everyone has been incredibly welcoming, and Hazel has been teaching me the ropes. I am really looking forward to continuing to learn, contribute to the programme and see what the next two months bring.”
Sheraton Full Moon
This month, we built 15 new coral frames (adding ~640 coral fragments to the reef), kindly sponsored by guests and the resort, and we ended the month by planting frame number SH946. We monitored (cleaned, repaired, photographed) a total of 128 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 ~525 new fragments to our existing frames, and continue to spot and remove any corallivorous species (14 Drupella snails and one cushion star).
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.
World Reef Awareness Day (1st June) – The morning commenced with a special guided snorkelling activity at the Dive Centre with our marine biologists. Guests were later invited to participate in a community frame-building activity, where each participant could plant four coral fragments. Once the frame was complete, guests joined us at the Dive Centre to watch the frame being planted and view where their corals would be placed. A special marine talk focusing on coral reef ecosystems was held in the evening.
Environmental Awareness Day (5 June) – We conducted a special Eco-sort activity and a fun marine memory game to raise awareness on pollution in our oceans. This was an entertaining guest-learning experience and a great way for them to get a hands-on understanding of the pollution issues in our oceans. In the evening, a conducted a marine talk on the sea turtle species found in the Maldives, their ecology, and the conservation challenges they face.
World Ocean Day – (8 June) – We carried out a special Eco-sort activity in the early afternoon. This was followed by a complimentary community coral frame, where guests had the opportunity to plant coral fragments and learn about our reef restoration programme.
Reef Maintenance
Blue Hole & Water Villas – Many frames were lifted due to the seasonal shifting of sands around the island. We are still making our way through repopulation at this site and hope to get through more frames next month when we have the full team available. The Water Villa frames have shown great growth since being repopulated last year. They continue to be closely monitored since the water temperature increased.
Dive Centre – we completed maintenance on frames located on the shallow side this month. We have started a row of frames to the right side of the dive centre at about 2.5 metres deep to create a new site with resilient corals for this depth, which can be accessed while freediving. The first two frames were planted with A. digitata from the water villas and these frames were unsuccessful due to triggerfish damage to the newly transplanted fragile coral fragments. We have since been planting P. verrucosa and resilient Acropora colonies. Initially, these corals are showing positive signs since plantation and we look forward to seeing how they grow going forward.
Coral Bleaching Surveys
Bleaching surveys were started at the end of March at two sites, the Water Villas and Dive Centre. This came about as we experienced a seasonal increase in water temperature which is affecting Maldives in general. We followed the MMRI coral bleaching protocol which we also completed back in 2024. A total of 1,247 coral colonies were surveyed using the MMRI bleaching score system.
Dive Centre – Bleaching surveys of 321 coral colonies continued throughout the month on the small frame structures located at approximately 4.5m depth to the right of the coral pyramids. Our last set of bleaching surveys (21 June) established a positive change in coral health. The data shows an increase in coral colonies scoring a ‘1’ (healthy). We have seen a slight increase in colonies scoring a ‘6’ (dead), although the overall health of the survey site is positive. Colonies are starting to bounce back now and we hope to see further improvement in the month of July.
Water Villas – Bleaching surveys of 336 coral colonies located around the water villas continued throughout the month. Comparing to the last set of surveys (17 June) the data shows an increase in healthy coral colonies and gradual improvements in many others. We do see an increase in colonies scoring a ‘6’ (dead), but overall the reef here has progressed a long way after the high temperatures. We are on track to seeing even better recovery in the month of July and will continue to monitor the frames closely. 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 now and we should see some corals showing less signs of stress.
Frame SH058 (photo sequence, below) – frame SH058 (Water Villa site) clearly shows signs of stress and bleaching as we progress from March through June. Bleaching monitoring photos and surveys will continue until we see some recovery in the corals.
Marine Life
🎙️ Marine Talks – A total of 13 guests enjoyed 6 marine talks this month, averaging 39 minutes duration. The lower attendance is likely due to reduced resort occupancy during this period, resulting in fewer scheduled talks and a smaller audience at each session. One special talk was held on Environmental Awareness Day. Marine talks are still being conducted on a laptop but we are hoping for a new outdoor tv for the high season.
🐬 Dolphin Cruises – 6 dolphin cruises were attended, with spinner dolphins recorded on all cruises. Several potential cruises were cancelled due to poor weather and choppy conditions. We continue to log boat behaviour indices to assess any changes in dolphin behaviours over time.
🤿 Snorkelling Excursions – 5 snorkel safaris were joined this month. Overall, megafauna sightings included many blacktip reef sharks and pink whiptail rays, along with a few: nurse sharks, whitetips, hawksbill & green turtles, and a variety of rays (marbled, spotted eagle, short-horned devil).
Marine Education & Awareness Activities
♻️ EcoSort Challenge – 5 EcoSort challenges were enjoyed by 14 guests across the month, lasting on average 30 minutes. The number of activities increased greatly from last month due to there being fewer clashes with resort events.
👨👩👧👦 Junior Marine Biologist – our new activity was very quiet his month, as there were few children on the resort.
📱 Instagram – Content included 9 posts, 6 reels, and 33 stories posted throughout the month across the Reefscapers teams. The post with the highest reach was an announcement for internships, clocking up 22k views and 657 likes.
