Restoration is where conservation moves from understanding reefs to actively helping them recover.

At Ankay Conservation, our Reef Restoration Program combines focused training, hands-on fieldwork, and long-term monitoring. Rather than following one fixed itinerary, the program is designed around your time, interests, diving experience, and the restoration work taking place during your stay.

Every participant begins with the same Core before moving into a restoration pathway.

Start with the Core

Coral Restoration Foundations

Learn about coral reef ecology, the threats facing Caribbean reefs, restoration principles, coral nurseries, outplanting concepts, and why long-term monitoring is essential to successful restoration.

Restoration Diver Skills

Restoration requires more than simply being able to scuba dive. You will work on buoyancy, positioning, reef-safe movement, underwater task control, and the skills needed to participate responsibly in restoration activities.

Impact Tracking with BeBlue

Restoration does not end when a coral is planted or a structure is deployed. You will see how Ankay records field activities, tracks restoration assets, and uses monitoring data to understand their long-term impact.

Choose Your Pathway1. Coral Propagation & Nursery

Best for participants who want to work directly with coral fragments and understand how corals are propagated and cared for before outplanting.

Depending on current restoration activities, you may learn about:

• Responsible coral fragment collection
• Coral fragmentation techniques
• Nursery introduction and maintenance
• Fragment growth tracking
• Coral health identification
• BeBlue fragment tracking

2. Artificial Reef Builder

A hands-on pathway for participants interested in restoration design, construction, and the creation of new reef habitat.

Depending on the stage of our current projects, you may take part in:

• Artificial reef structure design
• Materials and construction
• Deployment preparation
• Underwater deployment
• Coral transplantation onto structures
• Structure monitoring

This pathway is particularly interesting for hands-on participants and students with interests in conservation, engineering, architecture, or design.

3. Monitoring & 3D Mapping

Best suited to participants interested in science, data, technology, and understanding whether restoration interventions are actually working.

You may learn:

• Restoration monitoring methods
• Coral health assessments
• Field photo documentation
• 3D reef mapping and photogrammetry
• BeBlue data entry
• Before-and-after comparisons
• Impact reporting

Advanced Coral Restoration

Participants staying longer can combine pathways and experience a larger part of the restoration cycle.

Depending on ongoing projects, this can include coral propagation, nursery tracking, artificial reef construction, deployment, coral transplantation, health monitoring, 3D mapping, and impact reporting.

The longer you stay, the more opportunities you have to understand not simply individual restoration activities, but how they connect as part of a long-term conservation strategy.

What Can Volunteers Expect?

This is an applied conservation program.

You will spend time both learning why restoration techniques are used and practicing them in the field. Activities can include classroom training, diving skills development, coral nursery work, construction workshops, restoration dives, monitoring, photography, 3D mapping, and data entry.

Restoration work depends on environmental conditions, current project phases, coral availability, participant experience, and the needs of the reef. For this reason, not every activity takes place during every stay.

This allows us to prioritize ecological integrity over creating artificial activities purely for participants.

Small groups allow our instructors to provide close supervision while maintaining safe and responsible restoration practices.

Duration

Your experience develops according to the length of your stay.

1 week:
Complete the Core and focus primarily on one restoration pathway.

2 weeks:
Go deeper into your primary pathway and, where possible, begin combining activities from a second pathway.

3 weeks:
Experience a broader portion of the restoration cycle and participate in more advanced restoration, monitoring, and impact-tracking activities.

Participants wishing to stay longer can also combine Reef Restoration with other Ankay conservation or PADI training programs.

Diving Experience & Requirements

Scuba diving is an important part of the program, but the experience can be adapted according to your starting level.

Participants must be comfortable and safe in the water before participating in restoration tasks. We place particular emphasis on buoyancy, positioning, environmental awareness, and reef-safe diving.

If you are not yet a certified diver, or need additional diving experience before beginning specific restoration activities, PADI training and additional dives can be added to your stay.

Certain advanced underwater activities may require additional diving experience. Your pathway and activities will be adapted accordingly.

All necessary scuba equipment is available at Ankay, although you are welcome to bring your own.

Location

Ankay Conservation is located on Solarte Island in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago of Panama, surrounded by tropical rainforest and Caribbean coral reefs.

The center is just a few minutes by boat from Bocas Town, allowing participants to enjoy an immersive island conservation experience while remaining close to restaurants, shops, nightlife, and other amenities.

Bocas del Toro is part of the Mission Blue Hope Spot and supports an extraordinary diversity of Caribbean marine ecosystems.