# The Coral Reef Guide > An independent guide to the world’s coral reefs ## Posts - [Coral bleaching: what it is, why it happens and what it means for reefs](https://coralreefs.net/coral-bleaching/): Coral bleaching is the clearest sign of how climate change is affecting the ocean. - [What is a coral reef? How reefs form, live and grow](https://coralreefs.net/about-coral-reefs/): A coral reef can look like a garden of rocks and plants, but it is really a city built by animals. - [The reefs of the Maldives: manta rays, whale sharks and new species](https://coralreefs.net/with-fishes-never-before-seen-by-scientists-the-reefs-of-the-maldives/): The Maldives is a nation built by coral. - [Tubbataha Reefs, Philippines: the Sulu Sea’s protected wilderness](https://coralreefs.net/tubbataha-coral-reef-sulu-sea-philippines/): Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park lies in the middle of the Sulu Sea, about 150 km from the nearest city. - [The Mesoamerican Reef: the jewel of the Caribbean](https://coralreefs.net/the-mesoamerican-barrier-reef-the-jewel-of-the-caribbean-the-home-of-the-manatees/): The Mesoamerican Reef, sometimes called the Great Mayan Reef, runs for over 1,000 km from Isla Contoy at the tip of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, along Belize and Guatemala, to the Bay Islands of Honduras. - [The Andros Barrier Reef, Bahamas: blue holes and the Tongue of the Ocean](https://coralreefs.net/the-great-andros-barrier-reef-the-enigmatic-isle/): Andros is the largest island in the Bahamas, yet one of the least visited. - [New Caledonia: the world’s longest continuous barrier reef](https://coralreefs.net/new-calcedonia-barrier-reef-france-the-second-largest-barrier-reef-in-the-world/): New Caledonia, a French territory in the south-west Pacific, is wrapped in one of the great reef systems of the world. - [The Chagos Archipelago: the Indian Ocean’s wilderness reefs](https://coralreefs.net/great-chagos-archipelago-the-cleanest-bluest-water-in-the-world/): The Chagos Archipelago is a group of seven atolls and more than 60 islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean. - [Palau: the reef that bounced back](https://coralreefs.net/palau-reef-the-exception-to-the-rule/): Palau is a small island nation in the western Pacific with an outsized reputation among divers. - [Apo Reef, Philippines: the country’s largest coral reef](https://coralreefs.net/apo-reef-the-philippines-still-untouched/): Apo Reef lies in the Mindoro Strait, a channel between Mindoro and Palawan swept by currents. - [Florida’s Coral Reef: America’s only barrier reef](https://coralreefs.net/floridas-coral-reefs-endangered-turtles-and-unique-corals/): Florida’s Coral Reef is the only coral barrier reef in the continental United States, running for about 350 miles from the Dry Tortugas, past the Florida Keys, and up the south-east coast. - [The Great Barrier Reef: the world’s largest reef, seen from space](https://coralreefs.net/the-great-barrier-reef-see-it-from-space/): The Great Barrier Reef is so big it can be seen from space. - [Pulley Ridge: America’s deepest light-dependent coral reef](https://coralreefs.net/the-pulley-ridge-coral-reef-system-the-glowing-underwater-reef-that-may-save-all-reefs/): Pulley Ridge is unlike every other reef on this list: no one can snorkel it, and almost no one has dived it. - [The Belize Barrier Reef: the Great Blue Hole and beyond](https://coralreefs.net/belize-barrier-reef-number-one-in-the-seven-wonders-of-the-underwater-world/): Running the length of Belize’s coast, the Belize Barrier Reef is the largest section of the Mesoamerican Reef and the longest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere. - [Palancar Reef, Cozumel: Mexico’s most famous drift dive](https://coralreefs.net/life-on-mars-palancar-reef-san-miguel-de-cozumel-mexico/): Cozumel became famous among divers in the early 1960s, after Jacques Cousteau praised its reefs. - [Wakatobi, Indonesia: a remote national park of perfect reefs](https://coralreefs.net/an-underwater-nirvana-wakatobis-coral-reef/): Wakatobi takes its name from the first letters of its four main islands: Wangi-Wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia and Binongko. - [The Red Sea reefs of Egypt: Cousteau’s underwater world](https://coralreefs.net/jacques-cousteaus-discovery-the-red-sea-reef-of-egypt/): Few seas have inspired as many divers as the Red Sea. - [Rangiroa, French Polynesia: sharks, dolphins and a giant lagoon](https://coralreefs.net/a-true-taste-of-heaven-rangiroa-french-polynesia/): Rangiroa is the largest atoll in French Polynesia and one of the largest in the world: a thin ring of reef and some 415 small islands around a lagoon of 1,446 km². - [Bonaire: the Caribbean’s easiest coral reef to explore](https://coralreefs.net/blue-and-neon-nights-bonaires-pristine-and-glowing-coral-reefs/): On most Caribbean islands you need a boat to reach the reef. On Bonaire you just walk in. - [Vatu-i-Ra, Fiji: the soft coral capital of the world](https://coralreefs.net/still-intact-and-full-of-unique-fish-the-coral-reefs-of-vatu-i-ra-fiji/): Fiji calls itself the soft coral capital of the world, and Bligh Water is the reason. - [Lord Howe Island, Australia: the world’s southernmost coral reef](https://coralreefs.net/the-most-beautiful-island-in-the-pacific-lord-howe-island-australi/): Lord Howe is a crescent of volcanic rock in the Tasman Sea, about 10 km long, with two forested mountains at one end and a turquoise lagoon along its western shore. - [Raja Ampat, Indonesia: the richest coral reefs on Earth](https://coralreefs.net/the-eldorado-of-coral-reefs-raja-ampat-indonesia/): Ask divers to name the best reef in the world and Raja Ampat comes up more than any other. ## Pages - [Stories](https://coralreefs.net/stories/) - [About this site](https://coralreefs.net/about/): The Coral Reef Guide is an independent guide to the world’s coral reefs: where to see them, when to go, how to get there, and how to help protect them. 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