Neptune Memorial Reef

Unique graves can take many shapes and forms-- whether it's a spine-tingling and bone-chilling dollhouse, or a crazy Illuminati-style pyramid, or even in the middle of the road, you can find them hidden in the most surprising places. You can even find some interesting graves 3 miles off the coast of Florida... underwater. In the world's largest man-made reef. Seriously, there's nothing else quite like the Neptune Memorial Reef. It may look like a sculpture garden, albeit a submerged one covered in coral and hiding fish and other critters, but it's actually a sort of masoleum. Cremated remains were mixed with cement and formed into sculptures which were placed below the surface. It's all inspired by the Lost City of Atlantis-- you can choose to have ashes molded into anything from a starfish to a column and placed on various features of the underwater city. You can even add a plaque with names, dates, and epitaphs-- they can even add trinkets that have sentimental into the cement blocks. There's a place of honor at the top of one of the gates where legendary shipwreck diver and Guinness World Record holder for oldest scuba diver Bert Kilbride is interred. The Memorial Reef has had its fair share of trouble-- receiving permits from the many organizations who needed to approve of the project proved to be costly, and a category 5 hurricane slowed the process down further. Even now, the project is only semi-finished-- the Neptune Society, which provides cremation services and the company making the cement sculptures parted ways before the entire vision could be completed-- it was originally going to be a massive 16 acres, with streets, benches, and more, all underwater. But, there's half an acre or so of lovely statuary there now, and visitors are welcome, whether on boat or as divers-- loved ones of those interred in the reef have even become scuba certified so they can visit the dearly departed. And, as an added bonus to an already unique and special burial, the cement sculptures are able to sustain coral and other marine life and is approved to be eco-friendly-- and you can literally say that your loved one is buried in a coral reef. -Roadtrippers