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
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.
A film would be nothing without a main character, and we think ours is tops! 🇭🇳🌊
Let’s learn a little more about Christian “Aquaman” Carias!
After a life-altering diving accident, Christian @scubachris17 faced the possibility of never returning to the water. But it was more than just the injuries that he had to face, it was the fear of losing a core part of who he was. The journey back wasn’t easy: it took time, patience, and courage he didn’t know he had. And, what carried him forward was Tela’s reef — a reef that continues to grow and endure in conditions where most would fail.
Spending time with the water changed how Christian understood resilience, not as something loud or dramatic, but as something quiet, steady, and deeply honest.
This film doesn’t pretend that healing or conservation is simple. It shows how both people and nature keep moving forward, even when things are hard. Christian’s journey mirrors the reef itself: strong, persistent, and shaped by survival.
This is the heart of The Rebel Reef: Seeds of Hope @rebelreeffilm and why this story will continue to matter long after the lights have faded.
Read Christian’s full statement here ▶️ https://telacoral.org/main-characters-statement-the-rebel-reef/
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.
We’re still emotional from the world premiere of our short documentary, The Rebel Reef: Seeds of Hope, which premiered in Oakland at the beginning of December. Our director, Brynne Rardin, shares how it all began and what making this film has meant to her.
It started as a conversation between Brynne, Executive Producer Tiffany Duong @tiffmakeswaves, and Christian Carias @scubachris17 in Tela. They quickly realized that the ocean had saved each of them in different ways. From that moment, a collective calling emerged: to connect more people to the ocean in ways that compel them to protect it — through Tela’s story, through it’s magnificent corals 🪸
For Brynne, this film is about hope that endures against all odds. About faith in the unknown. And about telling an environmental story differently; through character, emotion, and a more cinematic, artistic lens. By experiencing the Rebel Reef through Christian’s (the film’s main character) eyes, we’re invited into a deeper story of identity, resilience, and transformation. One that mirrors the fight to protect a reef few people even know exists.
“The Rebel Reef” @rebelreeffilm is about stewardship, heritage, and our shared future, and Brynne hopes this film sparks a collective awakening, not only to the urgency of ecological protection, but to our deeper connection with the Earth and one another.
Read Brynne’s full statement here ▶️ https://telacoral.org/directors-statement-the-rebel-reef-seeds-of-hope/
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.
