It took me 5 years to get back to Coral Bay to check out the damage from a a natural but devastating event. It was not simply coral bleaching from warm water: The main problem was that In March 2022, corals released their eggs and sperm during their annual spawning event. Calm weather and weak tidal circulation trapped the spawn in the relatively enclosed waters of Bill’s Bay. The water lost much of its dissolved oxygen, suffocating corals and fish. The reef can recover, but a more recent storm must have slowed this process. Recovery will take years, and the reef may not return to exactly the same mix of coral species that I recorded in 2021. Fast-growing branching corals were among the hardest hit. A report on the event described extensive damage along a strip approximately 4 kilometres long and up to 300 metres wide.