Ripple Effect: A Year of Marine Conservation
As thalassophiles (lovers of the sea) celebrate World Oceans Day, we’re looking back on a busy year of initiatives at Belmond focused on the preservation of the oceans – from spotlighting endangered monk seals to projecting disruptive art in unexpected locations.
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Art for the Oceans
Our hotel on the Riviera Maya in Mexico, Maroma, has just celebrated a year of collaboration with global environmental organisation Parley for the Oceans. To celebrate the partnership, artist Paola Davila took to the shoreline for an art activation named “Te regalo el mar de Maroma” (I Give You the Sea of Maroma), a piece that captured the spirit of the beach and energy of its surroundings. As part of the festivities, guests created their own water-inspired cyanotypes – a photographic process that produces a blueprint image using a solution of iron salts and UV light.
HOW CONSERVATION IS GETTING CREATIVE
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Ocean Guardians
Across many of our properties, we’ve hosted workshops – in tandem with the passionate experts at Parley for the Oceans – to train our teams to become ‘Ocean Guardians’, placing local voices at the forefront of ocean conservation efforts and equipping them with the knowledge of the incredible biodiversity found along their shores. Things kicked off on the Riviera Maya, where there are now 47 trained Ocean Guardians. This is in addition to coral reef mapping efforts; the Mesoamerican Reef, which runs just off the coastline of Maroma, is the largest barrier reef in the Northern Hemisphere and a new survey focused on understanding the health of this fragile ecosystem.
VISIT MAROMA
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Marine Biology in Cape Town
At Mount Nelson, Belmond’s hotel in Cape Town, guests can become a marine biologist for the day with shark scientist Justin Blake, exploring Cape Kelp Forests, octopus gardens and fascinating sea caves. All proceeds support The RockHopper Fund, an ocean conservancy NGO whose mission is to create healthy oceans through shark conservation, ocean health and education. After Blake shares his unparalleled knowledge, you’ll gain an understanding of the much-maligned fish’s importance in maintaining ocean ecosystems.
BECOME A MARINE BIOLOGIST
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Turning Rio Carnival Blue
In 2025, Copacabana Palace’s world-famous Copa Ball during Rio Carnival had a new theme: Infinite Ocean Blue, in collaboration with Parley. Festivities featured an immersive visual Parley experience that invited guests to dive into the depths of the oceans with an LED panel displaying images of marine life, showcasing the beauty of our oceans and the urgent need to preserve them. All décor and proceeds were donated to “Entre o Céu e a Favela,” a local organisation dedicated to promoting social inclusion and environmental responsibility in Rio's favelas.
VISIT COPACABANA PALACE
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Monk Seals in Madeira
This year we worked with the Emmy-nominated director, photographer and filmmaker Andy Mann, on a documentary spotlighting the ocean’s critical role in sustaining life on Earth. In the documentary, Andy visited Reid’s Palace in Madeira and the neighbouring Desertas islands where an endangered population of Mediterranean Monk Seals remain. Through his lens, beautiful moments of these rare mammals showed the importance of protecting this vulnerable population.
WATCH THE SHORT FILM
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Copacabana Palace Photography Exhibition
Oceans, Climate, Life was an art project at Copacabana Palace that transformed eight hotel windows to display works by four Brazilian photographers, with the aim of inspiring action on ocean conservation for the entire city of Rio. The team at Copacabana Palace later joined an expedition to the Cagarras Islands, a key marine reserve, to experience its biodiversity first-hand. In June 2025, the hotel will host Ocean Art talks and turn the famous facade blue to spotlight the importance of the seas during Ocean Week.
VISIT COPACABANA PALACE
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Beach Cleanups
Several educational sessions combined with coastal cleanups have taken place around the world on beaches beside Belmond hotels. In Rio de Janeiro, the global capital of beach culture, the first of many was held in December 2024 on Copacabana Beach with Parley, bringing together our team and collaborators to learn about the local ecosystem and take action to protect their coastlines. Over in Italy, the team at Caruso, on the Amalfi Coast, embarked on a beach cleanup in Maiori in a great show of community spirit and care for the coastline.
VISIT THE AMALFI COAST
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