The first day of March calls for a 2025 wrapped!
A little late, but we were busy doing everything you see here 😅
Many days we split into two teams to get even more done. Thank you to the team, volunteers, community and donors who help make this all happen!
Beyond The Reef is somehow in its 8th year of existence and even though we often think it was started like 15 months ago, the community has become reliant on us for so many of these things that you see here and we are grateful to be able to do this work for the territory, the people and the waters that we all care so deeply for.
Full 73 page “2025 Annual Report” will be available this week for those interested 🐋 🦈 🪸 🤿
Where’s the Whale!? 🐋
Introducing BVI’s latest 45 foot interactive Humpback Whale sculpture that will be traveling about the island and raising awareness for the beautiful animals that pass through our islands and dangers that they face with ghost fishing net and marine debris entanglement.
Did you know that over 300,000 cetaceans (whales and dolphins) die from net entanglement every single year 😢
The next step of this project will be to make the inside of the whale an educational center for children to learn more about these whales, their threats and how we can help protect them 💙
In the meantime, it took its inaugural spin around town in the BVI carnival for a quick celebration 🎉
#humpbackbvi
#whale #whalesculpture #humpback #humpbackwhale #britishvirginislands #marinedebris #ghostnets #oceanawareness #speakupfortheocean #wsloneocean
Dub us like one of your French girls…. 🦈 🎨
We were recently featured on a French “50-minutes” program.
I will post the entirety on our IGTV, but here are some clips!
#britishvirginislands #bvi #artificialreef #scubadive #coralreef #willytwreck #sharkplaneo
🪸 Meet the team behind Beyond The Reef! 🪸
Beyond The Reef has assembled a dream team of marine biologists, all dedicated to ocean conservation! 🌊
From shark and coral research to marine mammal conservation, Beyond The Reef does it all! 🦈🐋
#BeyondTheReef #BVI
This net was an absolute beast, but luckily so is our team… 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽😅
We haven’t officially weighted it yet, but will update once we do! Very happy to have this out of our waters…
#fishingnet #ghostgear #oceancleanup #britishvirginislands
Some days are hard to put into words, but the end of humpback season has been giving us quite a show!
We are now in our 4th season of studying cetaceans in these waters and continue to learn so much more with every day that we get to document their behavior, seasonality, depth and habitat preferences, group size (calf season vs otherwise), overlap with cargo vessels, fluke ID matches to track migrations etc etc.
Excited to share the 50 page report of our findings from 2023-2025 with everyone soon and hopefully encourage additional protections for these beautiful animals who have found sanctuary in our waters 🌊 ✨ 🐋
Thank you to our team and volunteers for their dedication to rough days at sea, @oscar__mccall for the drone footage and @jjuleslopez for the edit!
#britishvirginislands #humpbackwhale #dolphin #dolphinspotting #dolphinlove
The 2025/26 humpback whale season is well underway and it’s all hands on deck here at Beyond The Reef!
With 16 research expeditions completed this season already (thats over 100 hours spent on effort), we’ve had some incredible encounters. From mothers swimming calmly alongside their calfs to dramatic pec slapping and breaching next to the boat, it’s been a wonderful season.
So far, we’ve captured 18 fluke ID’s which will help us to determine which individuals are coming to our waters and returning year on year. With the data we have collected, we hope to create protections to safeguard these amazing creatures and ensure they can always find a home in the BVI.
Keep an eye out for our upcoming Report The Reef app, where you can become a citizen scientist and report your sightings of whales and dolphins to us!
Follow the Beyond the Reef team in the upcoming documentary film capturing the efforts of the team researching whales and dolphins in the British Virgin Islands.
Coming soon…
@1beyondthereef
Soft Launch of REPORT THE REEF ‼️
Our new “BVI boating everything app”
The place to upload:
*Wildlife sightings 🐋
*Report incidents at sea (illegal anchoring, dumping, wildlife hazards, ghost nets) 🪸
*Explore anchorages, dive sites and our interactive map ⚓️
*Connect/message with other boaters and see profiles of who is currently in your anchorage 📧
Comment on this video for early access to the download code to help us test it. Coming soon…
@report_the_reef
Holiday lights in a humpback whale! ✨
Every year Beyond The Reef passes out gifts to the children of Anegada, but this year we were also able to give marine bio lessons inside of the Christmas whale! 🎁 ☃️ 🐋
#britishvirginislands #sailbvi #bvilove #anegada #beyondthereef
New episode of Home Water Dispatch about the power of knowledge co-production for learning more about the movement ecology of sharks and flats species, all for advocating for the best tools for their conservation and management. So grateful for an amazing collaboration with local stakeholders focusing on what a sustainable future means for their home waters. Use the link in my bio to watch the full episode on my FishForward YouTube channel.
#homewater #homewaterdispatch #conservation #sharks #flatsfishing
When Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) reached the BVI, our reefs faced one of their greatest threats - and our community rose to meet it. 🪸 🙌
In this video, hear from our marine biologist Amy and Alton, a dedicated volunteer who joined the response when SCTLD first appeared in the territory. Together, they share how this fast-spreading disease began, how we’re treating affected corals, what the future holds for BVI reefs and what we’re doing to protect it. 🌊 🌎 💙
Every coral treated, every diver trained, every hour spent underwater brings us one step closer to recovery. 🤿💪
🎥: Alton Bertie
#BVIReefRescue #SaveOurCorals #SCTLD #MarineConservation #BVIReefs #ProtectWhatYouLove #OceanAction
