Coral reef now vs. past bleaching events question.

I was wondering if there are any veteran avid snorkeler/divers here that have been here for decades. I am happy that the deeper reefs are doing fine, but it is sad to see the state of Onna’s shallow reefs where basically all the hard coral has died and is now covered in algae.

I’ve read algae cover is a bad sign for the possibility of reef recovery. I know that Okinawa reefs have suffered past bleaching events, yet I can tell the reefs were doing very well before last years bleaching event.

I was wondering if anyone knows if the reefs were this bad in the past and were able to recover well, to as they were in 2024, or if this is a whole new level of mortality and algae cover than ever before?

I appreciate any answers! I can’t seem to find anything online, even with Mr. ChatGPT’s help!