World’s first underwater cemetery is off this Florida beach. Here’s what to know

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Not only is the Neptune Memorial Reef the world’s first underwater cemetery — it’s also set to be the largest man-made reef on the planet.

The cemetery is located 40 feet underwater in Biscayne Bay, over three miles off the coast of Miami Beach.

“It was a group of businessmen in the area who had the idea,” said Neptune Memorial Reef’s community resource director, Michael Tabers.

Tabers told News 6 that the site had already been designated for an artificial reef, though nothing had been done with it.

“So these gentlemen came up with an idea of building an artificial reef and making it not only an artificial reef, but also a work of art,” Tabers added. “That’s when the idea came about building the Neptune reef, and it was built from an artist conception of the Lost City of Atlantis.”

The way it works is simple: customers’ cremated remains are mixed with water and turned into “placements” at the reef, which has been outfitted with several other concrete structures that serve as reef bulwarks.

Of course, customers can choose which placement they want and where they’d like it to be situated. These placements can take the form of road columns, arches or local sealife.

“The ones that we have are of marine life that exist at the reef,” Tabers explained. “So we have starfish, seashells, stone crab, just to give you an example… We have nurse shark placements, puffer fish. We have sea turtle placements; those are some of our more popular ones.”

So far, Tabers said there have been around 1,500 placements deployed to the reef, though there are thousands more from customers who have already reserved spots in the cemetery.

When the reef first kicked off in 2007, it encompassed roughly half an acre. By 2018, the reef had garnered much more popularity, so the reef was extended to around a full acre. But that’s not where it ends.

“Now, since we’ve deployed the second phase (in 2018), we have plenty of availability,” Tabers said. “And then when that starts to fill up and folks start to prearrange and reserve their spaces in that — when that becomes full — we will launch the next phase of the reef.”

Once complete, the reef is expected to stretch 16 acres across the seabed, with the capacity to fit remains for over 250,000 people. And that’s great news for the local sea life.

Coral reef conservation is a huge undertaking in Florida, with several groups across the state engaging in research to prevent coral reefs from potentially going extinct.

As such, the Neptune Memorial Reef is a huge boon for the local marine environment, as it provides hard surfaces that help coral to thrive and presents many nooks where small fish can hide from predators.

“Some of the local universities that have marine biology departments, they dive at the reef regularly to do studies. And then, some of the coral reef conservation organizations also dive regularly at the reef,” Tabers stated.

Researchers aren’t the only ones diving to the reef, though. The company says that loved ones who want to visit a family member’s resting place can take their own private vessels or a charter out to the reef to come swim through themselves.

“Many have received scuba certification so they may come back and visit year-after-year to pay tribute to their loved one,” the company’s website reads. “A local family are known to moor their 70-foot sailboat and spend the day with their dad, uncle and grandfather who are memorialized at the reef.”

Placement packages for Neptune Memorial Reef come in seven different flavors. They are as follows:

• Scatter At Sea — The dive team scatters cremated remains in open water over the reef, and customers can also opt to install a custom-engraved copper memorial plaque to the reef.

• Standard — Cremated remains are mixed with cement before being molded and secured to one of the reef’s structures, along with an engraved copper plaque.

• Premium — Placements in the shape of marine life (such as seashells, stone crabs and starfish) are secured at the base of the concrete Road Unit Structures in the cemetery.

• Exclusive — Large “Capital Top” placements are set atop Road Unit Structures and adorn columns in the reef.

• Limited Marine Placements — These placements are limited to only two on each Road Unit Structure, coming in the form of an octopus, stingray or turtle. The placements are secured at the structure’s base.

• Limited Crown Placements — These placements are much larger and placed atop the Road Unit Structure. They come in the form of a manatee, pufferfish, nurse shark, or giant turtle.

• Private Family Groupings & Estates — These placements can be used for family estates at the cemetery in the form of welcome features columns, family groupings, and the Neptune City Center (the latter of which comes in at a whopping $9 million).

Family members having their loved one’s cremated remains are welcome into the company’s studio to watch the “Mixing Ceremony” take place, and while there’s no way to know for sure how long the placements will last, company officials said there have yet to be signs of erosion.

“Coral and other crustaceans make the memorial placement their home and protect it by encapsulating it in living coral,” the website says.

For more information about the reef or to ask about placements, visit the Neptune Memorial Reef’s website here.

In the meantime, you can explore plenty of other strange locations and stories from across the Sunshine State by heading to News 6′s “Florida Fables” page here.

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