Welcome to the first Online Coral Reef Treasure Hunt!

If you are reading this, there is a good chance that you found out about our Treasure Hunt through Twitter or Facebook. We are launching the “Alpha” version of the Treasure Hunt exclusively for social-media savvy people like you! This being said, if you stumbled upon us by pure chance or have been invited by a friend, by all means feel free to join the party and play with us! We are very interested in your participation and feedback – and in return, we offer great prizes to win.

The purpose of our first Online Coral Reef Treasure Hunt is to learn from you, the participant, what you like and dislike about the Hunt’s organization and to improve its mechanics based on your helpful feedback.  Our ultimate goal in designing the Online Coral Reef Treasure Hunt is to provide a fun new way for you to learn more about coral reefs and to discover great new dive and snorkel sites all over the world – and in doing so, you give us a chance to help save coral reefs:  "In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, we will understand only what we are taught." Baba Dioum, Senegal. We are eager to grow and improve the Treasure Hunt, thereby helping it to reach more and more marine conservationists like you. Again, the main idea is to have fun – it’s that simple.

You will be assisted throughout the Treasure Hunt by our very own 3D Coral Reef Maps of dive and snorkel sites that exist in the real world! In fact, we produced each of the maps that you will be exploring by getting wet ourselves: thanks to our patented GPS coral reef mapping protocol, we have painstakingly collected vast amounts of information necessary for the design of our beautiful 3D Dive Site Maps.

Not only will these maps help you in your quest for the Holy Grail of our Online Coral Reef Treasure Hunt, but they can be  - and are! - used by divers and snorkelers to investigate actual reefs! Each 3D Dive Site Map also comes with a list of creatures that can be found on that specific reef, information regarding coral reef creature behaviors that are observable in water, and other important information for divers and snorkelers, making these maps truly unique.

In fact, our desire is to use this knowledge to help advance the important cause of marine conservation. As you know, coral reefs are in great danger and the more we learn about coral reef ecology, the better we will be able to curb the increasing decline of this fascinating ecosystem. Our hope is that in the near future, our maps will help save coral reefs worldwide – and we would like you to play an important role in this effort, one step at a time…

While taking your online journey through the reefs of this world, you will come across amazing creatures, learn about their fascinating behaviors and understand why they are so important for the coral reef ecosystem. You will dive on hidden paths, swim through exciting tunnels, and encounter a coral reef world filled with adventures – and clues. With every stroke of your fins you will get closer to the treasure.

But that's enough said for now. Let the contest begin! We dare you to put your gear on and embark on:

When one of your friends wins, Beautiful Oceans makes you a winner too! We double the prize and award it to you as well!

The equation is simple: the more people who participate in our Online Coral Reef Treasure Hunt equals the more who people will learn about this beautiful and incredibly important ecosystem: "In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, we will understand only what we are taught."

You win - your friend wins - coral reefs win.  It’s simple.