A transformative new travel model, the Roots-to-Reef Retreat, is redefining sustainable tourism in the Caribbean. Developed by Aquanauts Grenada, the 2025 Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association’s Overall Winner for the Coral Reef Tourism Stewardship Award, the initiative bridges the connection between land and sea, showing how sustainability becomes meaningful action from the mountaintop to the reef.
Unlike a single eco-tour, Roots-to-Reef Retreats offer immersive, customizable, week-long itineraries that guide participants through Grenada’s seven interconnected ecosystems in partnership with the small businesses, community groups, and culture bearers who care for them.
Participants have the opportunity to dive or snorkel alongside conservation professionals, join invasive lionfish removal or reef monitoring citizen science initiatives, harvest and prepare Grenada’s national dish, Oil Down, with regenerative farmers, hike to a waterfall while learning about local plants and wildlife, learn herbal and Ital wellness practices from cultural leaders, and explore mangrove and seagrass restoration sites.
These experiences combine to form fully customizable dive group travel and retreats, ranging from wellness and cultural immersion to scientific diving and conservation training.
“Roots-to-Reef is not a tour, it’s a framework,” says Tiffany Geer, Director of Aquanauts Grenada and Co-Founder of HydroSoul. “It demonstrates how island communities can build regenerative travel models that honor culture, restore ecosystems, and support local livelihoods.”
Grounded in the Rastafarian principle of living simply, naturally, and in harmony with the earth, the Roots-to-Reef Programme highlights how actions at the mountain top influence the mangroves, shape the reefs, and ultimately sustain community well-being and ocean health.
The official programme debut will be at the DEMA Show 2025, Orlando, Florida, when the international dive and travel community will be the first to preview the full Roots-to-Reef Retreat programme framework during Tiffany Geer’s DEMA presentation ‘Roots to Reef – A Holistic Approach to Sustainable Tourism’ on Tuesday, 1 November at 10am.
During this session, attendees will discover how Aquanauts Grenada’s sustainability journey, from Lionfish Bites & Beats to Dive & Conservation Festivals, inspired the Roots-to-Reef concept; how community partnerships and voluntourism strengthen local economies; how dive professionals can easily customize their own immersive and sustainable dive group travel in Grenada; and how this replicable model can be applied across Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
“Grenada is proving that tourism can positively benefit the local communities and island ecosystems,” says Geer. “When visitors choose Roots-to-Reef, they become part of regeneration and a sustainable future for Grenada.”
