Nestled in the vibrant waters of the Caribbean lies a hidden gem of biodiversity and ecological health — the coral reef of Tela, Honduras.
In an era where the majority of coral reefs are experiencing degradation and decline, Tela’s reefs are a rare example of resilience and hope.
Tela Coral News
Beneath the Surface
If you’ve been keeping up with the news in Tela, you’ll know that our Virtual Reality (VR) dive experience at Tela marine Aquarium @tela_marine is officially live! Funded by a generous $50,000 award from the Stanley Creators Fund @stanley_brand, this immersive project will allow guests to explore Tela Bay’s coral reefs, experience 360-degree underwater dives, and witness real marine conservation work all without ever getting wet. We can’t wait for you to try it!
What you’re watching now is a dive filmed in 360-degrees by Dr. Joseph Henry @josephaureliohenry of Triton Society @triton_society and our partner Antal Borcsok of Tela Marine for the Hidden Compass @hiddencompassmedia Ethos of Exploration event! This was the first time Tela’s ever been filmed in 360 degrees, and we’re so grateful to have this footage of our rare elkhorn coral and the massive orbicella faveolata coral that we all love... Casita!
This experience, the new ones at Tela Marine, and future ones to be filmed will make coral reefs more accessible than ever, to hopefully create the next generation of ocean conservationists.
A huge thank you to the Stanley Creators Fund, Stanley 1913, and Hidden Compass for believing in what’s possible. Together, we’re turning technology into a catalyst for deeper connection and meaningful conservation.
Stop scrolling... This is coral history in the making 🪸
Last summer, the world’s first internationally crossbred elkhorn corals were planted off Key Biscayne, Florida. These “Flonduran” corals (Acropora palmata) have one parent from Tela, Honduras and one from the Florida Keys, making them part of the world’s first approved international coral transplantation. Their planting was a major regulatory breakthrough and a huge step forward for global coral restoration efforts.
This week, our colleagues at the University of Miami @miamirosenstiel checked in on the Flondurans and shared the update we were hoping for: the Flondurans are FLOURISHING! 💪💪💪
This matters especially in Florida because elkhorn corals were recently declared functionally extinct in the state. That means, scientists believe there are too few stands left for coral larvae to sexually reproduce. The ones that remain suffered in the 2023 bleaching event. And yet, in Tela, elkhorn corals continue to persist and resist everything that is thrown at them. The goal of this cross breeding initiative is to harness that resilience from Tela’s corals and, hopefully, pass it on to their offspring — the Flondurans!
So far, it’s working! 🎉 All sixty Flondurans corals that were outplanted mid-2025 survived the summer heat and are showing signs of continued growth.
Our Flonduran corals are not only a semblance of hope for the reefs in Florida but also proof that science, collaboration, and a little matchmaking can help rewrite the future of reefs around the world. 🌊
Huge thank you to University of Miami PhD student Fabrizio Lepiz Conejo from the Coral Reef Futures Lab @coralreeffutures for these stunning monitoring dive photos.
Stay tuned for more exciting updates.
New year, same Rebel Reef. 🪸🇭🇳
In a world where most corals face degradation, Tela Bay in Honduras, is a rare story of resilience and hope. Here, critically endangered elkhorn coral grows in sprawling, architectural thickets - structures that have vanished from most of the Caribbean. But the most startling fact? These corals show astonishingly low levels of bleaching and disease. They are not just surviving; they are thriving, a living lab of resilience and a powerful source of hope for global ocean conservation.
In 2026 and beyond, we’re excited to keep doing what we do best: supporting the local community in Tela to conserve their irreplaceable ecosystems through science, storytelling, and community empowerment. Let’s break that down:
🔬 THE SCIENCE: With brain power from University of Miami Coral Reef Futures Lab, UT Austin Matz Lab, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany we’re exploring different hypotheses for why these corals behave so differently and how we can learn from them to protect corals far beyond these shores. Tela’s corals were part of a world-first experiment that we’ll continue to update you on!
🎥 THE STORY: Last year, with help from Hidden Compass, Ocean Culture Life, and Stanley 1913 we filmed and produced an award winning documentary! “The Rebel Reef: Seeds of Hope” has brought Tela’s story of resilience further than we imagined possible, and we’re just getting started.
We also helped our friends at Tela Marine build a virtual reality experience at Tela Marine Aquarium, allowing anyone to dive into what makes this reef special. We just opened to rave reviews!
🤝 THE TEAM: Our goal is to build up capacity - in Tela so that they can steward their own resources! Along with the incomparable Chad Cannon and the Music for the Ocean team, we continue to fundraise to build out mainland Honduras’ first ever genetic coral biobank: a living library of irreplaceable coral genetics. We’re closer than ever to building our dream and preserving these scientifically-significant corals.
2026 promises to be a big and bold year and we’re so grateful to have you with us! Ready? Let’s go!
Phase 2 of Tela’s Biobank is OFFICIALLY in motion. 🌊🪸
With our partners at Tela Marine Aquarium @tela_marine, we’re creating mainland Honduras’ first ever living coral biobank! And, we’ve passed a major milestone: the raceway tanks have arrived!!
These twelve large tanks will eventually safeguard a variety of resilient coral species found on the Rebel Reef, helping protect critical reef genetics against threats like Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, global warming, and pollution.
In the months ahead, these raceways will be relocated to the land we purchased in 2024: our future biobank site. There, they’ll be set in place and brought online with full life-support and seawater circulation systems to allow conditions to stabilize before corals are introduced. Alongside this, we will also build a wet lab and a public welcome center to support long-term coral care and research and to allow both locals and visitors to see this work first-hand, respectively.
We remain so grateful to our sponsors in this effort: the Stanley Creators Fund @stanley_brand and donations from our collaboration with Chad Cannon @chadwickcannon and the Music for the Ocean team @musicfornature_official. And, of course to our partners and the visionaries in this entire effort, Tela Marine!
Stay tuned for more exciting updates!
“And so this film is really about… resilience against all odds.”
After our world premiere of The Rebel Reef: Seeds of Hope in Oakland, Sivani and Sabine — the founders of Hidden Compass @hiddencompassmedia — hosted us in a filmmaker panel to share more about the science, stories and inspirations of the rebel reef. Director Brynne Rardin @brynnerardin summarized perfectly why this film hits home: each of the core team has ✨ lived this story personally ✨. The ocean has saved Brynne, Executive Producer Tiff Duong @tiffmakeswaves, and Christian Carias @scubachris17 each in different, profound ways. In its healing waters, they’ve each found their own stories of resilience and healing. Together, in making this film, we’ve discovered how universal this theme is: we are all far more resilient than we imagine ourselves to be.
As this story continues to ripple outward, may this lesson from #TheRebelReef remind us to stay resilient, to stay hopeful, and to keep learning both from the ocean and from one another.
Thank you to our local partners and sponsors, especially Tela Marine @tela_marine, Caribbean Reef Guardians @caribbeanreefguardians , Stanley 1913 @stanley_brand, Hidden Compass @hiddencompassmedia, and Ocean Culture Life @oceanculturelife, who helped make all of this possible.
