Intro to Coral Restoration (Amed)
Intro to Coral Restoration (Amed)
Be a coral restoration marine biologist for 3 days in the calm waters of Lipah Bay, Amed! This is perfect for beginner divers.
In this course, you will dive into the fascinating world of corals, learn about their biology, coral types and shapes and the threats that corals face today. We will cover 15 different coral genera. You will learn more about the delicate process of coral reproduction and gain insight into the fundamentals of coral restoration. Each classroom section will be reinforced with dive sessions so you can practice your new found knowledge by spotting the corals on the reefs of Bali. Finally, you will visit one of our coral nurseries to harvest a coral fragment and plant your own coral to leave a lasting mark on the reef. You will leave this course having a greater appreciation of the pressing threats facing coral reefs today and how to restore them, equipping you with the knowledge needed to become a proactive guardian of these vital ecosystems. No boat required.
All proceeds will go towards funding coral restoration and outreach programs by Ocean Gardener, and supporting the local community through the income earned by the local guide.
Highlights
Day 1 – Introduction to corals
We will start by learning what a coral is, followed by their biology and then an overview on the different types of corals. You will learn about hard vs soft corals, large vs small polyps and the different colony shapes. After the classroom session, you will have 2 guided dives, where we will spot the different coral types in the wild and apply our newfound knowledge.
Day 2 – Hard corals
These are the important reef building corals. You will learn about how they contribute to providing homes for fish and other marine life. We will go over 5 genera of small polyps hard corals and 5 genera of large polyps hard corals. Once again, we will perform 2 more dives on 2 more reefs to spot these hard coral types in the wild.
Day 3 – Soft Coral and Coral Planting
We will discover these unique corals that are adapted to bend with the surge and currents . You will learn to recognize 5 genera of soft corals. In our final dive, we will try to spot these soft corals as well as visit one of our coral nurseries. You will harvest a coral fragment from our donor colonies and plant your own coral for posterity! In Amed, we will be using the reef spider technique to plant corals.
Prerequisites
- SSI/PADI Open Water Diver certification
- Good Buoyancy Skills
Includes
- Ocean Gardener trained instructor
- Diving equipment (BCD, Weights, Mask, Fins). You are welcome to use your own equipment.
- 5 dives in the various reefs around your course location
Excludes
- Transportation to/from Amed
- Accommodations
- Meals
If you need help arranging accommodations and transportation, please contact us after booking and we’ll be happy to help you arrange it.
What to bring
- long sleeve rash guard or long-sleeve t-shirt
- If you have to use sunscreen, make sure it is reef-safe. (Don't hurt the corals)
Meeting point
Pohada Bar and Restaurant, Amed, Bali
Become a coral advocate! Plant your own coral in Amed, East Bali. Proceeds fund NGO's coral restoration and outreach work.
Final price may vary due to exchange rates.
Reviews
Rating distribution
Such a beautiful experience! Jonathan was incredibly dedicated and patient, and made learning about corals both fun and easy to understand. Planting 27 corals and putting everything we learned into practice was definitely the highlight. Highly recommend the Intro to Corals course! 🪸🤍
Excellent personalised experience with Jonathan, enjoyed myself and learnt so much with excellent hands-on coral fragmentation and planting!
Amazing visit, we learned a lot about corals and planted some! Thank you so much!
Loved it, the educational part was really in depth and answered every question, the coral planting was so cool and important
I did Introduction to Coral Restoration with Jonathan. It was so fun and sad at the same time to see how much the coral was badly damaged in Amed but I see hope in every spiders they plant.. Thank you so much for the knowledge and hopefully I can do more coral restoration in the future.
The course was a really interesting and nice experience! Jon explained everything really well and it was a lot of fun to plant the coral.
This was an amazing course. Jon was very knowledgeable in sharing all about the coral reefs. Now we have to come back and visit the coral we planted!
Fantastic experience! Jonathan is an excellent teacher. Wonderful opportunity to learn and enjoy.
Really nice experience and good approach to discover more about corals
We had a great time and learned so much. Our instructor Jonathan was amazing, kind and smart and patient.
Perfect host,perfect activity,beautiful day
Great course with Jonathan I loved it and fully recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the ocean
Frequently Asked Questions
You will support
Ocean Gardener
Ocean Gardener is a Bali-based coral reef restoration non-profit. Established in 2016, they are a diverse team of biologists, divers and coral enthusiasts that drive to make change by restoring Indonesia’s degraded reef areas. Vincent, the founder, has over 25 years of coral farming experience and they have achieved great success rates with their coral restoration sites. They actively partner with local communities, hotels, resorts and dive shops to setup and deploy coral nurseries using our protocols. From these nurseries, we harvest donor coral to restore the surrounding reefs. Collectively with their partners, they have planted over 1 million corals. They offer visits to their coral nurseries in 3 different locations in Bali, as well as short and long format courses to learn about coral restoration. The proceeds from the visits and courses goes back into the community coral planting programs and coral research into their reproduction to see how the knowledge can be used to help save the reefs that are threatened by global warming.
Become a coral advocate! Plant your own coral in Amed, East Bali. Proceeds fund NGO's coral restoration and outreach work.
Final price may vary due to exchange rates.