the Regeneration of travel
Breaking boundaries
For the longest time, Jeff Jenkins believed weight loss was a prerequisite for fully engaging with the world. Society told him many life experiences, from theme-park rides to scuba diving, were off-limits for a guy like him.
Fast-forward to today, and Jeff is telling plus-size people a different story: “Live life now.” Not after you’ve lost 15, 50 or 150 pounds. His own “eureka” moment popped upon reading the book “The Body is Not an Apology.” Newly alive to body positivity and self-love, he started a travel blog, Chubby Diaries. Three years later, his TikTok alone has more than 70,000 followers.
Little wonder Jeff inspires people: His positive energy is so palpable, it bursts through Instagram’s fourth wall. More, he’s motivating others to push the boundaries of what’s possible. “When I saw how much Chubby Diaries was resonating, it inspired me to break stereotypes and change the narrative,” says Jeff, whose fun-loving personality belies a serious, heart-on-his-sleeve side.
That’s meant throwing himself into adventure travel: from summiting Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano, to cage diving with sharks in South Africa. “I’ve never had as many people DM me as when I first posted about scuba diving,” Jeff says. “People were like, ‘There are wetsuits that fit me?’”
The upshot of Jeff’s success: a hectic schedule that might see him in Mexico one week and Croatia the next. So, when the covid-19 pandemic halted travel, it gave him much-needed time to reflect. Jeff became fascinated by stories of the natural world’s regeneration, now free of tourists. Think bears wandering Yosemite’s once-busy roads or jellyfish swimming in Venice’s newly transparent canals. “You could see the Earth healing itself,” Jeff says. “And I thought that was beautiful.”
It reminded Jeff why he loved travel: its potential to heal, not harm. In 2018, pre-Chubby Diaries, he quit his job as a school choir teacher to take a mission trip to Rwanda, building gardens in a small highland village, Kageyo. “I remember thinking, ‘I want to do this more. I want to travel the world and help people,’” Jeff says. “But the savior’s complex, I’m not about that. There’s a long history of going someplace with your ideology and ‘saving’ people. I want to work alongside people.”
Returning to travel post-pandemic, Jeff wants to be more intentional: not just about his impact on destinations, but communities, too. And he’s found the perfect place to start.
Returning to travel post-pandemic, Jeff wants to be more intentional: not just about his impact on destinations, but communities, too. And he’s found the perfect place to start.
In Key Largo, Florida, the locally founded Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF) is busy reversing the near extinction of Florida’s Coral Reef: the nation’s only barrier reef, and the third largest in the world. This ambitious undertaking has the potential to save not just millions of sea creatures, but the coastal communities of the Keys, too. And they’re inviting citizen divers to join the mission.
For Jeff, who earlier this year overcame claustrophobia to become a certified scuba diver, this trip ticks all the boxes. He’ll work alongside locals to save the reefs and show other plus-size travelers they can do it, too.
His one remaining fear? Hurting the coral. Between his new diver status and old body image issues, navigating the reef without a collision is a source of anxiety: “I just don’t want to be the one who messes it all up.”
There’s a long history of going someplace… and ‘saving’ people. I want to work alongside people.
For Jeff, who earlier this year overcame claustrophobia to become a certified scuba diver, this trip ticks all the boxes. He’ll work alongside locals to save the reefs and show other plus-size travelers they can do it, too.
His one remaining fear? Hurting the coral. Between his new diver status and old body image issues, navigating the reef without a collision is a source of anxiety: “I just don’t want to be the one who messes it all up.”
PLIGHT OF THE REEFS
The CRF’s Exploration Center, a little yellow bungalow in a quiet marina, is an unassuming place for such an outsized mission. Still, true to form, Jeff arrives totally pumped.
His teacher and partner for the day is Roxane Boonstra, a native Floridian with more than 2,000 dives under her belt. Roxane oversees CRF’s dive training for volunteers, explaining: “We want to get people involved on a deeper level by actually coming and helping us out.”
Roxane reveals she began snorkeling the Keys’ reefs when she was just four years old. “I remember it being really full of life and active,” she says. But with each passing decade, she saw more of that color and chaos recede.
For the millions of plants and animals that depend on these reefs for food and shelter, their very existence is at stake. Coral reefs are often described as the “rainforests of the sea”: equally biodiverse, and essential to the balance of life. Losing our shallow water coral reefs, according to Roxane, “would be like losing every rainforest on the planet.”
This is bad news for those living above sea level, too. And not just the Keys’ coastal communities, who rely on the reef—a natural barrier between land and sea—for protection from coastal erosion and hurricane damage. At least half of atmospheric oxygen is produced by the ocean. And Roxane explains a dire scenario is uncomfortably close. The world has lost more than half of its coral reefs since 1950. Without action, it’s predicted we could lose them all by the end of this century.
Reasons for this devastation include climate change, pollution, clumsily dropped anchors, and even clumsier divers who bump into the reefs and break off the coral. At this, Jeff looks aghast—even more so when Roxane tells him: “These are animals, they’re not Zen rocks sitting at the bottom of the ocean.”
Reasons for this devastation include climate change, pollution, clumsily dropped anchors, and even clumsier divers who bump into the reefs and break off the coral. At this, Jeff looks aghast—even more so when Roxane tells him: “These are animals, they’re not Zen rocks sitting at the bottom of the ocean.”
“First time I’m hearing that,” Jeff confesses, happy for the lesson. (“I love learning new things” is one of his most common refrains.)
Despite the dire outlook, the CRF’s efforts, which involve “farming” coral in offshore nurseries, then “gluing” them back onto original reef sites, have proved startlingly successful. Since its inception in 2007, the foundation has returned more than 170,000 critically endangered corals to the wild, restoring around 25,000 square meters of Florida’s Coral Reef.
MASTERING THE SKILLS
The nursery where Jeff will harvest coral is not just CRF’s largest, but the biggest in the world, home to almost 500 trees, and capable of raising 30,000 reef-ready corals in a year. Roxane shows Jeff a picture of the trees, simple structures reminiscent of TV antennae, and he’s visibly overawed. “I love it,” he says.
Even the classroom’s replica tree, used as a teaching tool, amazes Jeff. Coral bits of varying shapes and dimensions hang like surreal ornaments. To ensure healthy growth, free of surplus algae, CRF must clean the coral trees manually, and often.
“I love it,” Jeff says again, before grabbing a “glorified toilet brush” (Roxane’s words) to practice cleaning the coral trees. Jeff must also learn how to “outplant,” the technical term for moving coral to reef. Roxane teaches him how to clear space with a hammer, then secure the coral with an adhesive. With this improbably simple method, CRF has outplanted as many as 31,000 corals in a year.
Reenacting this 30-feet underwater is not so simple, however. Roxane cautions Jeff his regulator or hair could get caught in the coral and destroy it.
Back at his hotel, Jeff is equal parts nerves and excitement. (As a Marriott Bonvoy rewards program member, Jeff has chosen the Playa Largo Resort & Spa, Autograph Collection—part of Marriott Bonvoy’s portfolio of hotels—as his base.) He sets off for the boat, feeling awed that “an average Joe like myself” could contribute to something so epic.
TIME TO DIVE IN
Arriving at the nearby Rainbow Reef Dive Center, which is providing the requisite dive crew, Jeff is all smiles. The 40-minute boat ride through the Keys’ 50 shades of turquoise gives Jeff ample time to get into his gear—and his groove.
Arriving at the nearby Rainbow Reef Dive Center, which is providing the requisite dive crew, Jeff is all smiles. The 40-minute boat ride through the Keys’ 50 shades of turquoise gives Jeff ample time to get into his gear—and his groove.
He listens with relief as Roxane describes the nine-foot gaps between coral trees (easy to avoid damage with that margin), and intense concentration as she reviews hand signals.
First is the nursery, where, following Roxane’s lead, Jeff jumps off the boat without hesitation. Under the water, an initial struggle with his equipment and some noticeable wave surge threaten to throw him off-kilter. Instead, Jeff summons his resolve and quickly falls into a natural work rhythm. Always close at hand, Roxane leads him through everything from chiseling buildup off branches to transporting a crate of corals to the boat.
Next stop, Pickles Reef. The restored site is freshly teeming with angelfish and snappers, as well as replanted coral colonies, to which Jeff will introduce some new members. The task is at once momentous and unceremonious, Jeff banging away with a hammer, then tacking coral to reef.
The parallel between animals reclaiming their habitats mid-pandemic and his part in rebuilding one now is not lost on Jeff. On the ride back, he meditates silently at the back of the boat, waves of gratitude and sunshine washing over his face.
Later, Jeff confesses he was simply too overwhelmed to speak. “I know no one—I mean no one—who has done anything remotely like return coral to the wild,” he says. But he aims to change that, hoping reporting this story will encourage others to follow in his wake.
Later, Jeff confesses he was simply too overwhelmed to speak. “I know no one—I mean no one—who has done anything remotely like return coral to the wild,” he says. But he aims to change that, hoping reporting this story will encourage others to follow in his wake.
THE POWER OF TRAVEL
Over celebratory sundowners by the beach at the Playa Largo Resort & Spa, Jeff remains visibly overcome. “I had this mix of emotions happening all at once,” he tells Roxane. “I felt like, yeah, I did this. I got to help. And then it was also like, wow, look what us as humans are doing!”
It’s an emotional moment for Jeff: thrilled by what he can physically achieve when he puts his mind to it, but equally grateful for doing this alongside others, showing what’s possible when people come together.
It’s an emotional moment for Jeff: thrilled by what he can physically achieve when he puts his mind to it, but equally grateful for doing this alongside others, showing what’s possible when people come together.
It’s also profound for Roxane. She reports an uptick in people visiting the Keys not only to take advantage of its beauty, but to preserve it. For its annual World Oceans Day event, Coralpalooza, CRF has as many as 200 recreational divers working alongside them: “They’re enjoying this beautiful, clear water, but helping us keep it this way, too.”
And the more people who join CRF’s mission, the more the reefs will regenerate. For Jeff, that’s all the incentive he needs to encourage others like him to push themselves, and the boundaries of what they can do. “I’d never really thought about the ‘ripple effect’ before,” Jeff admits. “How coming out of your comfort zone can open the door to helping other people and the world.” He thinks for a moment. “It’s like I’m being my best self to help the reef be its best self.”
Coming out of your comfort zone can open the door to helping other people and the world.
Try outplanting coral for yourself
ALONG THE LINE
The coral is harvested from a coral tree in the nursery, so that it can be transported and attached to a nearby reef.
Once at the reef site, an adhesive is used to secure the coral to the reef, where it will then continue spawning naturally.
DRAG HERE
Congratulations, you’ve successfully returned coral to the wild.
Continue scrolling to find out how Jeff fares on his dive.
Next, Jeff learns how he’ll restore the reefs.
In the past 40 years, Florida’s Coral Reef has gone from teeming with life to coral graveyard. And it’s not alone.
- Nearly 90 percent of live corals in the Florida Keys have been lost since 1980.
- If no action is taken, it’s said we’ll lose all shallow water coral reefs by the end of this century.
Coral reefs are formed by species of reef-building coral.
- These species are invertebrates that extract calcium carbonate from seawater to create a hard exoskeleton.
- This exoskeleton forms the structure of the reef and protects the corals’ soft, sac-like bodies.
Healthy coral reefs are key to maintaining a healthy ocean.
- Thousands of species of marine life depend on them, and if coral reefs disappear, these species could become extinct, too.
- The ocean produces about 50-80 percent of the oxygen we breathe, so disrupting the balance of life in the ocean is also bad news for us.
The CRF grows critically endangered corals in offshore nurseries in the Florida Keys.
- The Tavernier Nursery is the biggest in the world, covering one-and-a-half acres of sea floor and containing almost 500 coral trees.
- Each coral tree holds about 60 individual corals. The Tavernier Nursery can produce up to 30,000 “reef-ready” corals a year.
Since its inception in 2007, the CRF has:
- Returned more than 170,000 corals to reef sites in the Florida Keys.
- Restored almost 25,000 square meters of Florida’s Coral Reef.
- Observed an average 143 percent coral coverage increase on reefs to which it has returned corals within one year.