MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Families are paying tribute to deceased loved ones with an underwater coral reef memorial.
Just a few miles off Miami Beach and 40 feet below water, Neptune Memorial Reef helps give people a final resting place while creating new life.
“They will live on forever,” said Jim Hutslar, the operations director of Neptune Memorial Reef.
The reef is home to the cremated remains of 1,500 people, with the ashes giving life to coral.
As reefs struggle with bleaching and other threats, the memorial’s permit was granted to help encourage the ecosystem.
“The way coral grows is that we have a layer of coral. It absorbs limestone, and it creates rock, so it builds layer after layer,” said Hutslar. “This way, we’ve given the reef a head start. We’re creating life after life.”
Will Payne’s parents, Buel and Linda Payne, are the first to be interred in an expansion with their ashes melded into a concrete pillar.
“So the ashes being down there, it basically becomes life down there,” said Payne.
Family members snorkel and look down from above as their loved ones are placed at the memorial. Roses are tossed to mark the spot at the surface.
For Payne, it was his final goodbye to his parents beneath the ocean.
“I guess if there was heaven, that would be it for them down there, definitely,” said Payne.
“Anytime I had an issue, I would call her for advice,” added brother Daniel Payne.
As the reef expands, it will create room for thousands more to become part of new life underwater.
“We’re hoping that we’re going to build a big reef and that you won’t be able to see where mom and dad were,” said Hutslar. “You’ll just know generations from now that they are part of that reef, that they created it.”
FOR MORE INFO:
Neptune Memorial Reef
http://www.nmreef.com
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