A Texas couple's final resting place is buried along the ocean floor off the coast of southern Florida in a unique underwater mausoleum, which is now home to more than a thousand cremated human remains. Ever since The Neptune Memorial Reef, a man-made reef located roughly three miles east of Key Biscayne, Florida, opened in 2007 thousands of family members have opted to have their loved ones buried among the structures. The reef is described as an underwater memorial site for the dearly departed who loved spending time in the ocean. The first phase of the Neptune Memorial Reef project is designed to resemble the lost city of Atlantis with lion statues, large columns, podiums and a gate all built 40 feet deep.
Scattered along the ocean floor of the 'reef city' are starfish and other man-made memorial plaques to honour the dead. Family members also have the option of creating memorial plagues in the reef structure itself. According to the reef's operations director Jim Hustler, family members can have their loved one's cremated remains mixed into the materials used to create the artificial reef. Divers will then deploy a new piece to the reef, marked by a memorial plague-bearing the person's name, dates and an epitaph. Last month, Buel and Linda Payne became the latest to have their plague added to the underwater memorial. So far, the Neptune Memorial Reef is home to the cremated remains of 1,500 people. The Paynes will be the first to be memorialized in the reef's expansion site, which opened this summer and will make room for an additional 4,000 memorials over 16 acres.' I really didn't get it when (my mom) was telling me about it and the more and more I think about it, it's really a nice, peaceful spot for your last resting place,' Daniel Payne told the Associated Press.
