Ocean Restoration Guide

Ocean restoration is Coral Island's signature system and the primary path for story progression, town rank improvement, and accessing deeper content.

Unlocking diving:

• Diving is unlocked on Spring 8 when Ling sends you a letter requesting volunteers for coral research.
• Meet Ling at the diving pier near the Inn.
• She gives you a diving suit after you heal 5 coral sites.
• Her robot companion Kible accompanies you underwater.

How to dive:

• Walk to the end of the diving platform and interact when the 'Dive?' prompt appears.
• You load into the underwater map at your anchor's last position.
• Move the anchor before surfacing to resume from that spot next time.
• Bring your Scythe (to clear debris) and Bug Net (to catch underwater creatures).

Healing coral sites — the core loop:

1. Find Solar Orbs hidden under trash debris on the ocean floor.
2. Interact with the Solar Orb to send it to the nearest altar.
3. Clear the path of debris between the altar and the target coral site so light can reach it.
4. The altar emits a rainbow-colored thread toward the coral.
5. The coral heals: oil disappears, colors become vibrant, black roots recede.
6. A new area opens up for exploration.

There are 85 coral sites total. Some players have cleared all 85 by Spring 18 of year one through focused effort.

Depth zones and kelp tiers:

As you heal coral sites and clear paths, deeper zones become accessible:

• 0-10m: Starting zone. Bronze Kelp available. Basic trash and debris.
• 10-20m: Early diving zone. More coral sites, bronze kelp, coffer chests.
• 20-30m: Silver Kelp zone. This is where Silver Kelp spawns reliably. Essential for Silver tool upgrades.
• 30-40m: Mid-depth zone. Rarer creatures, more challenging navigation.
• 40-50m: Gold Kelp zone. Requires significant ocean restoration progress.
• 50-60m: Deep zone. Osmium Kelp, rare sea creatures, and advanced materials.

The path to deeper zones is blocked by black vines that recede as you heal coral sites. Solar Orbs have some randomness in their spawn location — search the area thoroughly if you cannot find one.

Kelp and tool upgrades:

Kelp is the core crafting material for tool upgrades. Each tier requires the matching kelp essence:

• Bronze Kelp Essence: 5x for Bronze tool upgrade (2,000g)
• Silver Kelp Essence: 5x for Silver tool upgrade (5,000g) — Silver Kelp found at 20m depth
• Gold Kelp Essence: 5x for Gold tool upgrade (10,000g)
• Osmium Kelp: 5x for Osmium tool upgrade (15,000g)

Silver Kelp can also be found by digging clover spots on the beach with your hoe, or purchased from the laboratory for 250g each.

What you find underwater:

• Trash: Clear with scythe. May contain coffers with gems or artifacts.
• Kelp and seaweed: Harvestable resources for crafting.
• Underwater creatures: Catch with bug net (similar to surface insects). Some cannot be caught (transparent jellyfish).
• Sea salt, shells, clams: Harvestable from the ocean floor.
• Coffers: Hidden in trash piles, contain unique rewards.

Ocean restoration and the fish catalog:

Many deeper-zone fish only become accessible after specific restoration tiers. The ocean directly connects to the fishing system — as you heal coral and access deeper water, new fish species become catchable. Check each fish record's location field to see which require ocean restoration progress.

Town rank impact:

Healing coral sites is one of the fastest ways to increase Town Rank. The ocean restoration questline is tied to the main story and unlocks the Mermaid Kingdom storyline at deeper depths.