How Diving Progression Works
In Coral Island, diving is your main ocean progression loop. You clear trash with your scythe, uncover and activate solar orbs (the objects that heal coral sites), and collect kelp. Kelp drives upgrades: process it into kelp essence with an Extractor, then spend that essence at Ling's Lab for produce-quality upgrades.
If you’re just starting, treat diving as progression first and profit second. At the pier, use the return-to-anchor option (your saved underwater restart spot) so you can resume near your last anchor point. Push to the next orb or coral objective, lock in that progress, then do extra cleanup laps. After the route is open, loop back to farm materials efficiently.
Best Ocean Cleanup Routine
Before you dive, bring stamina food and leave inventory space for kelp and ocean loot. Underwater, clear trash in small clusters with your scythe, harvest kelp along your route, and skip low-value pickups when your bag gets tight. If stamina drops low, surface and start the next dive from your anchor point instead of forcing one more push.
For kelp farming, run short repeat routes through sections you already opened, and target the kelp tier you need right now. Store kelp by tier in dedicated chests, and avoid selling too much early. Lab quality upgrades use multiple bottles of kelp essence (for example, seed/seedling/sapling/hay upgrades use different essence counts).