December 31, 2022, 7:07 am | Read time: 4 minutes
Off the coast of Florida lies one of the world’s most unusual cemeteries. The Neptune Memorial Reef is not only a final resting place but also a continually growing coral reef. It’s also a tourist attraction, as its creators intended to evoke the legendary sunken city.
About three miles off the coast of the small town of Key Biscayne in Florida is one of the most unusual diving spots in the U.S. Some might even call it the most macabre. The Neptune Memorial Reef, located 40 feet below sea level, is indeed a cemetery—a cemetery underwater. However, the site is unique in another way. Life doesn’t just end here; it begins anew. This unusual resting place is also an artificial reef where more and more fish and corals are settling.
The success story of the Neptune Memorial Reef began in 2007, according to “Visit the USA,” the official tourism portal of the United States. That year, artist Kim Brandell designed and opened the truly unique memorial site. It intentionally evokes the legendary sunken city of Atlantis, featuring statues with an antique appearance, weathered-looking supposed building remnants, and even streets underwater. These structures are not actual remnants of a lost culture but were deliberately sunk here.
A Paradise for Fish and Corals
The goal: to create not only a truly unique cemetery but also a completely new ecosystem. Under the motto “Creating life after life,” a man-made reef has been growing and thriving in the shallow warm waters since then. Studies conducted in 2012 showed that 56 species of fish and 14 species with a total of 195 coral colonies had already become native to the Neptune Memorial Reef. Unfortunately, the current number is unknown. However, the site’s operators state on their official page that they have already exceeded all hopes and goals.
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This is mainly because nature has embraced the artificially created site much faster than expected. Since then, it has spread around and even on the underwater graves without hindrance. These are mostly statues or other concrete monuments containing the ashes of the deceased. Manufactured on land, these structures are then deliberately sunk, becoming part of the Neptune Memorial Reef and new life. Even on the artificially created ruins of the Atlantis of the dead, corals have apparently thrived, as images of the site show.
Miami’s Most Popular Dive Spot
On an area of 16 acres, 250,000 monuments for the deceased are planned to be created here. The operators of the Neptune Memorial Reef would likely say 250,000 opportunities for life to resettle. The first of these was dedicated to a young man who was killed as an innocent bystander in a shooting. Families can choose the form and size of the monument for their loved one. They can also participate in the creation of their unique grave marker and contribute their own ideas. The bereaved can actively accompany the burial—and those who can dive may even go underwater. Each of the deceased is commemorated with a copper plaque bearing their name and life dates.
Thus, anyone physically able can visit their loved ones underwater at any time. This fact has made the Neptune Memorial Reef the most popular dive spot in the Miami area in recent years, according to the operators. The cemetery’s website offers numerous links to organizers who regularly take visitors to the unusual site. The reef is now also the place where most diving students in Miami take their final exams. And where else in the world can you say you learned to dive at a cemetery?