Coral Restoration Dive

Tour at a Glance | Experience Required | Cost | Itinerary
What’s Included | Certifications

It’s one thing dive the reefs, it’s another to actively participate in their preservation while enjoying the beauty and splendor they help create. That’s exactly what our restoration dive lets you do.

Tour at a glance:

 

• Learn about coral reef ecology and the coral restoration project you will be participating in
• Receive a land-based full tutorial describing what you will be doing underwater to help save Key Largo’s branching coral
• Enjoy a half day of diving
• Meet, interact and dive with local coral biologists
• Tend a coral nursery and actively “plant” coral fragments at local Key Largo reefs as part of a coral restoration technique newly discovered by coral researchers at the Coral Restoration Foundation
• Take pride in supporting the non-profit group, The Coral Restoration Foundation, as a portion of your costs is donated to the foundation on your behalf.

Experience Required:

 

Open Water SCUBA certification. This activity is not for newly certified divers as buoyancy control is extremely important in order to prevent damage to the coral.

Costs:

 

Pricing begins at $160 per person. However, this cost will vary based on such factors as biologists’ needs, time commitments and season.

When you purchase any of our tours, you’ll automatically get 10% off a second tour of equal or lesser value. This offer is good for one year from the purchase of the first tour. In addition, kids under 12 years of age get a 10% discount on every tour.

Please call us at 1-877-99-GO-ECO, or e-mail us at info@goecokeys.com, to get specifics on pricing for this EcoKeys tour.

Itinerary:

 

This particular activity requires a time commitment from you that varies throughout the year depending on exactly what needs to be done for the project you’ll be working on. It includes a mandatory lecture where participants will meet with one of the biologists working on the project who will provide background information and explain the dive-agenda. This is followed by a series of working dives over the next day to several days.

• Classroom Component: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
  • Coral reef ecology, the threats coral reefs in the Keys and throughout the world are facing, what scientists are doing to restore the reef, and what you can do to help will be discussed.
  • Specific techniques and protocols that will have to be followed during the dive will be discussed and demonstrated. You’ll have the opportunity to practice all techniques on land.
• Conservation Dives: 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
  • Spend the afternoon participating in conservation dives. Usually the first dive is in the coral nursery and the second is at a nearby reef where corals will be transplanted or previously transplanted corals will be monitored.

What’s included:

 

• Classroom tutorial & observation
• Coral reef ecology and restoration discussion
• Participation in the Coral Restoration Foundation’s efforts
• A minimum of two dives
• Water, snorkel gear, tanks and weights provided – S.C.U.B.A. gear available for rent
• EcoKeys t-shirt

Certifications:

 

P.A.D.I. Coral Restoration Certifications are available for some programs.