Coral Restoration in Bali: Building a New Reef Beside Our House Reef with Reefvillage.org

A new reef is growing on the house reef at Bali Villa Dive Resort.

We built it in cooperation with Reefvillage.org, a non-profit initiative dedicated to protecting and restoring marine ecosystems worldwide through the construction of artificial coral reefs, ocean cleanups, and educational school programs.

This is coral restoration you can watch on a single dive, right off our own beach. The first structure is fully stocked and the corals are taking hold. A second one goes into the water in the upcoming weeks, and that is the one our guests can help to get built.

Our Reef Village structures on the house reef. The metal frames give corals a base to grow on, and t

Our Reef Village structures on the house reef give corals a base to grow on, and a juvenile batfish moved in already

How Our Coral Restoration on the House Reef Started

It started with one structure. We lowered a reef frame onto the house reef and fixed hard coral fragments to it. Different species, different sizes, all of them corals that naturally grow in rather shallow water. That first frame is now fully stocked and growing on its own.

The fish noticed fast. A juvenile batfish moved in soon after and behaves as if the frame has always been there. Since it sits on the house reef, we look in on it every day and can see what is growing and what is not.

The Reef Village Hour: Get to Know the Corals

From now on, you can look forward to our Reef Village Hour, a relaxed evening get-together. Cold drink in hand, no lecture hall. You do not need a biology degree to join in. We get into why we started the village and how we built it, and how a bare fragment grows into part of a reef. You also hear why corals are so important for our ecosystem, where they get their colours from, and many more interesting facts. Most people are surprised to hear that corals are animals, not plants.

The next time you dive the house reef, you know exactly what you are looking at.

Set Your Own Coral on the Second Reef Village

The first structure is fully stocked and growing on its own. The second village is where you come in. It goes into the water within the next weeks, and this time the guests can do the stocking.

If you are a certified diver, you can help build it yourself. After a short briefing, you head down and fix corals to the frame with your own hands. The house reef is a calm shore dive, so you do not need hundreds of logged dives to take part. The briefing still matters. Corals are alive, and rough handling can kill a fragment before it gets a chance.

You can also set your very own coral and follow it from home. We regularly email you photos, so you can see how it has grown. A small piece of reef on the far side of the world keeps getting bigger, and it is there because you put it there.

From basket to reef: We fix the fragments to the structures by hand, and they grow into part of the house reef

Adopt a Coral or Give One as a Gift

You do not have to dive to take part. You can adopt a coral, or give one to someone who loves the ocean. They get the same photo updates and watch their coral grow from wherever they are.

Every coral that grows adds shelter, and shelter brings fish. Give it a few seasons and a stocked village becomes a patch of reef that was not there before.

Come Be Part of It at Bali Villa Dive Resort

Come stay at Bali Villa Dive Resort and dive the house reef yourself or with our team. Sit in on a Reef Village Hour, set a coral on the new structure this summer, or just watch the fish move in over the first one. Contact us and plan your Bali trip with us.

Your EcoProDivers Team