SARASOTA, Fla. — Instead of visiting a deceased loved one at a cemetery, imagine swimming out to see their memorial underwater in a public reef in the Gulf of Mexico.

What You Need To Know

  • An Eternal Reef combines a cremation urn, ash scattering and burial at sea into one permanent environmental tribute to life

  • Eternal Reef balls are only placed on reef sites designated for development as recreational reefs for fishing and diving

  • These permanent memorials are placed on the ocean floor to create new marine habitats for fish and other forms of sea life

  • Reef ball memorials cost between $4,500 to $10,000

At the Silvertooth Reef, a company called Eternal Reefs places large, cement reef balls down into the ocean. Those reef balls contain the cremated remains of people whose families want to memorialize them.

Eternal Reefs is located in Sarasota.

The process to create the reef balls happens over a three-day period. Several families participate when creating the reef balls.

Greg Sipple came down to memorialize his wife, Carole Sipple.

“Love of my life, absolutely,” said Sipple, when asked about Carole.

On the first day, he and his family mixed her remains into cement. That cement is formed into a round shape called a pearl. It is then placed on the center, bottom of the porous reef ball.

Sipple said for years his wife wanted to have her remains honored this way.

Cement is also poured onto the top of the reef ball, and families can decorate the area with mementos.

“She was, during the Vietnam War, she was a strong advocate for POW and MIA, she wore that bracelet out,” said Sipple as he added her metal bracelet to the wet cement.

Greg Kinney stood just a few feet away from the Sipple family. He was decorating a reef ball for his brother, Robert Kinney.

“He will like the seashells,” said Kinney. “Him and I were scuba divers. We were dive buddies.”

Along with adding a few trinkets of his brothers, Kinney left a message.

“Best friend, very best friend. Since we were just little kids,” said Kinney. “Miss you Bob, I will love you forever.”

Two days later, the families return to Eternal Reefs to see the fully dried cement balls.

“Oh, it’s beautiful. Yeah, this is a great way to honor somebody,” said Sipple. “Her initials, her whales tails, snow flakes because we live in New Hampshire.”

On the second day, families get etchings of a metal plaque on the front of each ball that says the family member’s name.

Then, on day three, everyone loads up onto boats and travels out to the designated reef. One used in Florida is the Silver Tooth Reef.

Families watch as the reef balls are gently placed into the ocean, during which they can say their final goodbyes.

“The eternal reef for Robert E Kinney is now safely a part of the Silver Tooth Reef site,” said an Eternal Reef employee.

“Well Bob, until we meet again,” said Kinney. “I will be there beside you.”

For each family, saying goodbye is different.

“Both joy and happiness. This is exactly what Carole wanted. It is a beautiful day here with our family,” said Sipple. “We all have boats and stuff like that, so we will be able to come out. And we snorkel and scuba dive, so we will be able to come out and visit.”

Eternal Reefs places reef balls at several different locations across the country.