Once a year, everyone who cares about the reefs of the U.S. Virgin Islands ends up in the same room: the divers and the ferry captains, the teachers and the marine biologists, the hotel owners and the kids who adopted a coral last spring. Two days at the Red Hook Marina Pavilion — and streamed live for everyone off-island.
Why a summit, why now
The last two seasons rewrote what we thought we knew. Record heat tested every colony we’ve planted, and 87% of them held. That number isn’t luck — it’s site selection, genetics, and two thousand volunteers’ worth of Saturday mornings. The summit is where we decide what the next decade of that work looks like.
Day one — the science
Morning: state of the reef
Four short talks, no jargon, real data from our 38 monitored sites:
- The heat season in numbers — what bleached, what recovered, and why
- Nursery genetics: the eight coral lineages that outperformed everything else
- Water quality after the marina retrofit — one year of readings
- The fish are voting: species counts on restored versus unrestored reef
Afternoon: field reports
Crew leads from all three islands walk through the year site by site — the planting runs that worked, the rack designs that didn’t, and the shoreline cleanups that keep filling boats. Bring questions; this is the least formal hour of the program.
We can plant corals all day, but the reef only wins when the whole island shows up for it. The summit is the day the whole island shows up.
Dr. Maya Henley, Reef Science Lead
Day two — the plan
Day two is a working session. We split into planning tables and build next season together, in four rounds:
- Pick the sites. Rank the candidate reefs against the survey data from day one.
- Set the targets. How many corals, how many cleanups, how many classrooms.
- Staff the calendar. Crew leads claim months; volunteers sign interest sheets.
- Fund the gaps. What the Reef Ball needs to raise, line by line.
Who should come
- Anyone who volunteered this year — this is your debrief as much as ours
- Teachers and school coordinators planning ocean classroom visits
- Business owners who want their team on a reef next season
Schedule at a glance
| Time | Day one | Day two |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 am | Doors & coffee | Planning tables open |
| 10:00 am | State of the reef talks | Rounds one & two |
| 1:00 pm | Field reports | Rounds three & four |
| 4:00 pm | Open Q&A on the dock | Season plan read-out |
Getting there
The pavilion is a five-minute walk from the Red Hook ferry dock — the 8:15 am boats from Cruz Bay and Water Island both make the opening. Parking is limited; carpool boards go up in the volunteer group chat the week before. Off-island? The stream link lands in your inbox the morning of, and every session is recorded.
Registration is free and covers both days, lunch included. Doors open thirty minutes before the listed start, and every registration includes a calendar invite with the venue and stream details.
