You can actually dive to an underwater art gallery where there are numerous mermaids waiting under the waves to be discovered.  It’s an amazing art project featuring the casts of real people turned into Mermaid statues as part of an artificial coral reef.

1,000 Mermaids Artificial Reef Project is a public Eco-Art project in the form of an artificial Reef installation that will serve as an underwater eco-friendly destination for tourism and research. The last two hurricanes that hit Florida this year had tremendous storm surges and the coral reefs are our first line of protection.   They break down the wave energy that literally allows the wave energy to reach our Coastline.   If the Reefs die there’s no first line of defense to break down the wave energy, it is literally accelerating at a rate that we’re going to be underwater in Florida.

Noted Marine artist Chris O’Hare sculpted a 3D model Mermaid Reef and a Memorial dedicated to Veterans and First Responders.  Currently there are 55 artificial Reef modules attached to the seafloor, that’s over 50 tons of statues that each weigh between 2200 -3300 pounds.   Shelby Thomas co-founder of the Ocean Rescue Alliance has been spearheading this Monumental project to raise awareness about the dying coral reefs

So grab your scuba gear for a fun dive off Route 1.