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Rock City, Saint Thomas, often considered the gateway to the US Virgin Islands, is no stranger to tourists.

Year-round sunshine, a crystal clear deep water harbor, pristine beaches, and a never-ending supply of rum, amounts to 32 square miles of paradise.

But with a long history of hurricanes, pirates, and colonialism, this island and its people have seen their fair share of adversity.

Adversity that they have triumphed over through their resilience and tight-knit community.

Which they will now need more than ever, because just off shore, not far underneath the surface, a war is raging.

[music playing] Corals are alive.

They may look like a cross between a rock and a dead plant, but they are very much an animal.

And they are under attack.

The assailant-- stony coral disease.

This vicious ailment, most likely brought from Florida on a yacht transport ship, is wiping out entire reefs throughout the Caribbean.

We first heard about stony coral disease from local reporter, and People, Places, and Things host, Alli Bourne-Vanneck.

And it's why we find ourselves prepping to get on a boat at the University of the Virgin Islands Marine Research Center, with Dr. Marilyn Brandt.

Thank goodness for that year-round sunshine.

Dr. Brandt is the local expert on the disease, and the de facto leader of the strike teams doing battle with SCD across the USVI.

We loaded up and headed to Perseverance Bay, ground zero for the outbreak.

We sat down with Alli and Dr. Brandt while the team geared up for battle.

The sun came out.

Yes!

Tell us a little bit about this bay that we're in right now.

Well, so this is Perseverance Bay, and this was one of the first sites that was affected by the stony coral tissue loss disease outbreak.

Who found it?

I mean, how did you know?

Were people monitoring it?

I mean, I came back from a conference, and I said, this thing is starting to show up in other places in the Caribbean.

So I told the Marine Science Center, if you see something weird, just let me know.

So it was actually our dive safety officer-- he texted me that day and said, there's something weird going on.

And I really did not expect to see it.

But you know, I got in the water, and it was just like the floor dropped out from under me.

I knew what it was.

And I knew how devastating it was.

Up a little higher.

Being the local, I mean, how did you actually find out about it?

And how have you been involved in this project overall?

As a local reporter, you are hitting the pavement, trying to find stories and do your best to cover the community.

So I actually spoke to one of my contacts at the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, and so my contact said, Alli, you should really connect with Dr. Brandt, because this coral disease is just wiping out reefs.

And like, they're gone.

Why are corals so important to our ecosystem?

Well, coral reefs have been referred to as the rainforests of the sea, because they're just so incredibly diverse.

Without the corals, you would not have the structure of the reef.

Corals are animals, and because they have this incredible relationship with plants that live in their tissues, they're able to build reefs with their bodies.

And when you lose them, the reef begins to sort of crumble and collapse over years.

So was it a seismic event when you guys really identified that we think we have a problem?

The disease first emerged in Florida.

When it came here, I did not think about studying it when I saw it here.

I thought about like this is a reef that my kids love, and this is the end of this reef if we don't do something.

So it just took an emotional toll, like, first of all.

Do you think people back in the United States, on the mainland, do they grasp the magnitude of the problem?

Yeah, I mean, it's a hard question.

And it goes back to coral reefs cover a huge part of the ocean sea floor.

They are really diverse, but they also do things like keep the water clean, and they actually produce oxygen that we breathe.

So the oceans are the lungs of the world.

In the Caribbean, too, reefs are a source of cultural value.

And growing up here, I've always known, OK, yeah, coral reefs are important, and people love to dive.

But you know, to really bring it all home, the economic impact from research and reports that have been put together here in St. Thomas, this contributes about $1 billion, economically, a year-- coral reefs, in the United States.

I moved here 13 years ago.

My kids were born here.

So you know, I consider myself a part of this community, too.

And as do I.

Thanks.

And I remember coming up from that first dive and just being completely and utterly overwhelmed.

But what was really surprising was what happened after, which is, I contacted the Department of Planning and Natural Resources.

From there, we all just started to spread the word around.

And it was really incredible and really heartening, the response.

And then, when Alli came in, she was able to telephone that out, too, to an even broader audience, like community.

It sounds like you all-- just everybody came together.

That's the US Virgin Islands, I feel, and our community.

You know, I'm not going to get emotional, but we've been through so much, man, between hurricanes.

And we stay down here, we are resilient.

And now, people are reaching out all over the world because of the response and the progress that's happened here in this region.

Alli, this feels like the metaphor for the islands.

If we gonna do it, we gonna do it.

You know, and we're going to make it better.

And we're here.

It's like these little islands surrounded by water.

If not us, then who?

Dr. Brandt detailed the strike team's process, as they finished their prep and went into the water.

First, we have a full-time team of divers who go down and lay down the treatments.

Essentially, what's happening is the coral tissue is eroding off of the coral, itself.

And so what we're doing is we're putting this antibiotic topical paste on those lesion areas to try to stop the lesion from expanding.

The antibiotic is just-- Straight-up amoxicillin.

Every parent knows about.

But we mix it in on a specific ratio to a proprietary substance, so that it doesn't just dissolve into the environment.

It's not necessarily about stopping the whole disease, but it's stopping it on those individual corals.

Because we're trying to save as many individual corals as we can.

So if we can treat those corals that are affected, then they won't spread it to other corals.

Well, let's get in the water and become part of the environment.

All right, let's do it.

Eaten by sharks, and then-- [laughter] Watch out for those jaguar sharks.

No sharks, no sharks.

We'll see about that.

[laughter] Goodbye cruel world.

We're over the start of the reef right here.

And the divers who are treating the corals are out by that flag, so we're going to start over there and check them out, see what they're doing.

So let's do it.

It was pretty incredible to see Dr. Brandt's team at work, knowing that they, and others like them, are out in the ocean almost every day fighting this battle.

But containment is only one component of their work.

The other side is restoration.

We were headed to Saint John to see a large coral restoration site.

But the extreme weather and waves pushed us to a nearby cove, where they do similar work.

It was cold.

So Marilyn, where are we right now?

All right, we are at our Great Saint James coral nursery.

We have these PVC trees, they're suspended in the water, and we hang the corals with basically little fishing line.

And they grow real fast after you've broken them up a little bit.

But we take real good care of them.

And then, when they get big enough, just growing suspended on those lines, then we take them out and outplant them.

But they take a lot of maintenance-- the trees, they grow all kinds of stuff.

So we always have to be cleaning the trees and maintaining the corals.

But then, what's nice is you have these coral fragments on the trees, and when you're taking them off to outplant them, you clip a little piece off and put it back on the tree.

Oh, OK.

So it's like just a continuous loop of making more and more coral.

Which is a nice thing about coral, that you can do that.

We were able to see the process of outplanting up close.

This critical process bolsters the biodiversity and volume of the reef, making it more resilient to the disease.

Tending to the reefs is as never-ending as the life cycles of the coral, so they must be as relentless as the disease, itself.

One of the things that gives Dr. Brandt hope in the face of this overwhelming challenge is the next generation of scientists.

Kadisha is a student of marine biology and Saint Thomas native who came through the UVI Ocean Explorers programs and camps, and now interns for Dr. Brandt.

She often works in the onshore coral nurseries, while the rest of the team is out to sea.

What do you call it when you cut them up, and-- Microfragging.

What's the whole purpose of microfragging?

We have to take a coral that's maybe dying from disease, or has some effect of bleaching, and you cut the coral into a specific size, and you put them on these little plugs that we make ourselves.

And we kind of just let them grow.

What happens next?

After we frag it, we kind of just wait for everything to grow to a certain size, and then we outplant it.

It's like we're creating coral colonies.

This one here is a bigger version of these.

So it's just babies of these?

Yeah, so-- And then when you go from this, when it goes out into the wild, how big can this get?

It can get huge.

Bigger than you, if you're diving under there.

Like I am advanced scuba certified, but lab work is like where I like to be.

Instead of being in the water like everyone else?

I like the lab work.

I just like the serenity of the lab work.

It's just like alone, just taking care of everything.

I really like that aspect of the job.

Are there a lot of people that are drawn to marine biology?

Actually, no, most people who actually live on this island don't think about marine biology.

I mean, there's so much work we've talked about that need to be done, and so much research opportunities.

But if you don't have people like Kadisha-- Part of the problem is sometimes you have that excitement about marine science early on, but then there's no examples of how you can get into marine science, or the pathway you can take.

What we try to do is have programs to kind of like lay out what it's like to be a marine scientist.

Here are the different career path opportunities.

Because it's really important to have local knowledge and have local expertise, because these habitats, we've just scratched the surface on what we know about them.

Marine scientists will come down for a week or two and collect some data, but someone who's lived here their whole life, they know, they've seen what's happened, there's just so much historical knowledge about these ecosystems.

And that's been lacking, because marine science is kind of a privileged field.

I think what we're trying to do is level that playing field by offering opportunities to all Virgin Islanders to just get their feet wet, literally.

What does your family think about your choice?

They don't see it the way I do.

But my parents are probably like, yes, opportunities, go for it.

But everyone else is like, what's your major?

Marine science.

Oh.

It's like-- but people aren't educated on the topic.

So I try my best to explain to them, and then they'd be like, oh, I didn't know it was all of that.

Yeah, it is all of that.

Do you get to work with kids that are younger than you that are also trying to sort out where they want to go?

Yes, that's why I do the Youth Ocean Explorers program.

Tell me a little bit about that.

I was a camper when it first started, so I got like watersheds, mangroves, fish ecology, corals.

And through that program, I was able to get opportunities, like becoming scuba certified.

And then, the internship with Coral World, and then now working with Marilyn.

It just opens their minds.

And most of the kids come out like, I want to be a marine biologist.

So it worked for me.

So I mean, you're working on stuff now that will have an impact for years, that's sitting right out here in the island that you grew up with.

Are you optimistic about where we're at with the coral restoration, and some of the work that's being done?

I'm optimistic about it.

It will definitely help the issue.

We also need to address global warming, but this is a start, especially when more people are educated on marine science and they start to get into it, then there will be a lot more hands helping.

So when there's a lot more hands, a lot more education, it'll just blossom into its own thing.

Yeah, what do you see-- I mean, what do you see when you see Kadisha?

People like her?

Hope, I see hope.

Because you know, we have-- You see smart kids?

We have some rough days out there.

You know, I come back, and Kadisha's hard at work, like taking care of these guys.

And yeah, it's just-- And you're out here every day, virtually, every day for a couple of hours a day?

Yeah.

You don't get tired of it?

No.

You know, this does for me feel like, OK there's a lot to be done, a lot to be done, a lot to be studied.

A lot of room for people to come into the space.

But there's a lot of people that care.

I love doing it, so-- That's awesome.

After a long day on the water, Alli takes us to a favorite haunt and yacht haven, just outside of downtown Charlotte Amalie, to meet her lifelong friend, Vernon, and try out some local fare at Twist 340.

Well, first of all, how do you all know each other?

It's a short story.

We went to the same elementary school.

Yep, like I remember the day you came in, you know, I guess was part of the welcoming crew.

I don't know if you meant to, but just kind of worked out that way.

You know, so she was like my big sister.

And here we are, 30-plus years later.

You're a journalist, but Vernon, what do you do?

What don't I do?

I was going to say, everything.

Come on time.

[laughter] I am on time, OK?

I am on time.

So currently, I'm the director of philanthropy for a company here called Alpine Securities.

What does that mean, though?

So I basically work with nonprofits, and try to assist them with any of their goals and needs, or helping individuals who are Virgin Islanders, of course, to achieve higher heights.

Philanthropy and community relations is kind of what I do now.

But only for the last two years.

Before that, I was at Family Resource Center as director of development.

So I did a lot of fundraising and friend-raising.

There you go.

Nice way to put it.

Yeah, but it was really amazing work.

And I got to really kind of get an idea of the true fabric of the island, and what's going on behind the scenes.

Vernon is the man.

You're the man.

I mean, seriously, like I mean, from-- I mean, I've known him-- now I'm going to cry-- OK, I mean, I've known Vernon from like before we could read.

He always wants to help.

I mean, I saw that from him when he was six-- five years old.

And in everything that he's done as an adult, he has-- it's been about trying to help people.

And I feel like there's so much that you'd be doing behind the scenes.

I have to say, though, that it's more a reflection of the VI than it is of me.

Because growing up here, when I travel and I meet other people, and I ask them, do you have friends you've had for 30 years?

Almost all of them say, no.

I have at least 30 friends I've known for 30 years.

And these set of islands have shaped me, have held me up, have supported me, have strengthened me, has done so much for me as an individual that I feel like it's no skin off my back to give back.

And it feels good.

There's a lot of things that we've kind of gotten to see here on the islands.

I mean, how do you sum up Saint Thomas?

I mean, we know every year there's hurricane season, so buckle down, and you know, fingers crossed.

Prayers up, hope for the best.

God forbid the worst happens.

But if it does, we will come together and we are resilient.

And that's from our ancestors, and generations and generations.

It's ingrained in us.

So it's not so much that you guys are waiting for the mainland to come in when stuff happens, you are here, and you're taking care of each other.

If we waited, we wouldn't make it.

We are literally a dot in the middle of the ocean.

We're here, we're here, you know.

You're a literal and figurative island, island alone.

And you can feel like that when a storm comes, when disaster hits.

Unless you can call your neighbor, your friend, your cousin, and it's like, OK, I have bread, you have tuna?

You know, and-- Let's make a sandwich.

And a symbiotic relationship, not necessarily because we want to be.

But we are here now, and I think we always, always make the best of it.

And that's like inspiring for me.

Both of you guys have traveled quite a bit, been a lot of different places, went to school different places.

But you all-- both of you all came back.

Why do you guys stay, I guess?

In a word, winter.

[laughter] You can have all of winter.

All of a sudden, that made a lot of sense.

We're waiting for something very profound.

I'm an island boy.

That's just the long and short of it.

I didn't realize how much until I left.

It's home.

It's just home.

There's something to be said for if you go to the grocery store, the post office, whatever, and you bump into people who you know.

A lot of people know Saint Thomas because they come in on a boat.

What are they missing?

Very valid question.

I think it changes depending on how old you are, and what industry you're in.

Six ships in the harbor can be very daunting-- that's a lot of other cultures, other influences, other noises inundating on a small island.

So you can feel very claustrophobic very quickly.

And so there is sometimes a little animosity.

Especially when those people who are coming off the ship aren't respecting your space.

They come here, for one thing, for the food.

There's one thing that's-- You got beef patties right here.

Fantastic.

Crawfish patties in the back.

Thank you very much.

We'll have some more stuff coming out for you guys soon.

Awesome, thank you guys.

This is awesome.

Thank you.

OK, see, now you are travelers.

But we're talking about with tourists.

So you come and you're looking for the food, you're looking for the experience, the music, the culture.

We don't get a lot of those.

But a lot of the people that come here are looking to do almost exactly what they did at home here.

They just want to do it on a pretty beach.

That's exactly right.

It's so funny because, look, the reason why we love it is we got to meet Vernon, got to meet Alli, we get to see you guys.

It almost feels like these are our secrets.

Yeah, I would rather come and taste the local food from your cousins or your granny-- I like your mama's recipe on X.

You know what I'm saying?

That's the experience I want.

And you're learning, and you're able to evolve, I think, right?

We love, as humans, to try new things.

Awesome.

All right, and more food.

These are honey John cakes.

So they were actually hand rolled by our chefs in the kitchen.

And these are also curry chicken sliders, so they're like Johnny cakes, but they have curry chicken on top, topped with a mango chutney.

When you get started to accumulate, what's the menu?

Johnny cakes or pates, those are things that you can get from the food vans all the time.

And so we definitely wanted to incorporate that.

People have a place to come and really just eat our best local dishes.

That's awesome.

You guys enjoy.

I'm so happy to have you.

Oh, no, it's such a pleasure.

Thank you very much.

I'm happy to be here.

Well, it does feel like a small community.

It really is.

And the pride is real.

Next time you see somebody from the Virgin Islands, you say, oh, I met Allison, I met Vernon, they go-- You know, and next thing you know, you're going to get some free food.

There you go.

That's right, sorry, that's why I say I can't wait-- Thank you for coming.

Of all the places, you chose this rock.

So we're using y'all's name when it helps.

And Vernon, it happens all the time.

The fight against stony coral disease is a symbol of resilience for the Caribbean and the world.

The reefs gain their strength from the individual corals and their proximity to each other.

The people of Saint Thomas have taken note-- they take strength from their neighbors, their friends, their family, their fellow islands of Saint John and Saint Croix.

They are all working together, local or transplant, to build a response far greater than they could do on their own.

Coral may look like a rock from afar, a dead, hard thing.

But look a little closer, and it's teeming with life.

Colonies upon colonies that draw strength from each other.

There's so much more to explore, and we want you to join us on The Good Road.

For more in-depth content, meet us on the internet at the thegoodroad.tv.

Hear more great stories, connect organizations, and make sure you download our podcast, Philanthropolgy.

Funding for The Good Road has been provided by-- What makes a good road?

Blazing a trail, making a difference, being unafraid to take the path of most resistance?

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Designed to get you where you want to go-- from work to school, or wherever your adventures take you, Toyota is all about paving good roads.

Proud sponsor of The Good Road.

Toyota, let's go places.

Here in Asheville, we're a mixture of genres-- a hybrid of styles, settling for nothing, hungry for everything, all drawn together to stand out.

You are welcome.

Always, Asheville.

Music is the great unifier with power to change the world.

Musicians create that positive change music each and every day-- In Your Ear Studios, diverse musicians creating diverse music that unifies.

Bank of America.

What would you like the power to do?

Philanthropy Journal, stories about bold people changing the world.

The Buccaneer Beach and Golf Resort, Saint Croix, US Virgin Islands.

[music playing]