After my standard style of (bomb throwing) response in post #2, it's maybe time to think further about.... The answer? No...the question itself.
You can see similar lines of thought on the nets or even in day to day conversation.
I believe the OP has a reasonable Interest and approach in the question. SB posts tend towards that end of the scale. If you want to see the opposite end of the spectrum, the chicken-little crowd, go have a look at Twit Advisor Forums. Lot of fear and doubt there, funny if it were not so telling of that specific segment of travelers. We SCUBA divers view life and travel a lot differently. My preferred crowd.
But all of us... We tend to look at "life" and the world in a very short time window. I do not buy green bananas at my age. What's your timetable?
What's the weather going to be like in two weeks when we arrive in paradise? Does it rain all day, or just in the morning? What kind of wetsuit should I pack? I read about the coral bleaching, will it recover? The Lionfish are less, so the hunting of them is working. All the fish are gone because of over fishing. It's a better coral reef because there are no divers there. I just got my OW cert and it's the best dive shop in Jamaica.
Ten or so years back Roatan got its standard earthquake and as we dove Anka's Place, we saw that the entire vertical wall had sheared off, exposing its stark white face down to 90' where it lay in rubble. (I could now not notice any obvious remnant of that effect when diving it just last week)
But, the Internet screamed....
Diving on Roatan is over forevermore. Per the threads on SB, anyway, back then. add to that list Bonaire Huricanes and all similar.
I'm am experienced and jaded by 55 years of diving. Man's degradation of the reef has been constant and ongoing, you and I will never see a recovery from what we've managed to do in such a short time.
Nature itself modifies our concept of "normalcy". We are shocked by it's enormity and sweeping reach, it's suddenness. Startling because it's just not in our small brains to create that truly omnipotent effect. Watch the nightly news when the shocked survivors are interviewed..."It was like a movie!", they repeat predictably. No, you poor human, it's real actual life.
I've been aboard ships that had cooling intakes clogged by the now floating pumice fly ash from a Pacific volcano. I've been on planes that had to steer around 2010 Icelandic volcanic clouds. My trips were horribly and devastatingly
delayed for a few moments, the Earth really doesn't run on our digital smart phone clock.
When the Earth tires of our meddling, she will shake us off her back and return to her path.
This too shall pass, not today or next week, but have joy...there is new real estate now coming available in Hawaii.
Take me diving there, where that red molten lava now explodes in the sea, turning to steam and immediately then to black rock, let me be so very dangerously near.
