Ember
<font color=blue>I've also crazy glued myself to m
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2005
- Messages
- 3,468
When I mentioned that the plans for my mum's ashes were to become part of a living coral reef, I had several requests for more information and my thoughts on the process. So rather then send a whole bunch of private messages, I just thought I'd post here in case anyone else was curious who didn't message me.
We went though a company called The Great Burial Reef. Interestingly, Andrew (the vice president of the company) was expecting my call. I guess Google had alerted them to a link I had previously posted here on the DIS boards. While it was short notice at about two weeks before we hoped to come out, Andrew was wonderful and everything fell into place without any complications at all.
On the morning of the memorial we rented a car and drove from Disney World to Sarasota. Andrew met us at the harbor and we made our way to the yacht. Once there we met Jason (the president of the company and our diver) and our captain.
It took about 1/2 an hour to make our way into the Gulf of Mexico to the reef site. During this time we chatted away and enjoyed the ride. I can honestly say that from the moment we met Andrew and Jason everything felt easy and comfortable. There was nothing awkward or uneasy the whole day and they went out of their way to make sure everything was okay for us.
Once we reached the reef site, there was a short wait while Jason did an initial dive. Then he popped back up and we handed off the urn to him. He took it under the water and we had a chance to quietly say goodbye.
Once Andrew felt Jason had made it to the reef site he read a brief dedication. Then while we were waiting for Jason to reappear we were blessed with the appearance of two sea turtles who came right to the surface of the water and very close to our boat.
I was enchanted! Maybe I'm just too much of a land lover, but it really did feel magical in that moment.
Once Jason was back on board, dried off, and warmed up, we had lunch. It was a little funny, because it was a beautiful gourmet lunch with nothing I could eat because I forget to mention I'm a terribly fussy eater. My bad! Luckily everyone agreed to share in the feast and nothing went to waste. We toasted with campaign and shared a few memories.
The last part of the memorial was a chance to scatter rose petals over the site. We started very solemnly, but soon gave that up for a moment of joy. (I've cried a lot over the last year and this was a chance for happiness.)
After everything was finished, Andrew felt bad that I hadn't eaten so we did something out of the ordinary and went for cheese burgers! Again, I showed my land locked Canadian roots by being completely delighted by the burger shack we stopped at. You pull your boat up to the dock and just walk up to the counter!
Not only was it the neatest place, the burgers were really good!
On our way back to the harbor we took a different route to see the Ringling Brothers house (which I'm totally going to see next time we're in Sarasota!). As we were heading there, we spotted dolphins! The came so close I think I could have reached out and touched them!
Again, it felt magical. Like a gift telling me that things were going to be okay.
All in all, I couldn't have imagined a better tribute to my mummy. It was beautiful and joyful and she is now part of something living and growing. Here are a few pictures they sent us of the reef site.
Isn't it beautiful?
I can't say enough good things about this experience. We're even hoping to go back next year and take a crash course in diving so we can dive the site and see my mummy's reef for ourselves.
I hope this answers all the questions people had, if not, just ask.
We went though a company called The Great Burial Reef. Interestingly, Andrew (the vice president of the company) was expecting my call. I guess Google had alerted them to a link I had previously posted here on the DIS boards. While it was short notice at about two weeks before we hoped to come out, Andrew was wonderful and everything fell into place without any complications at all.
On the morning of the memorial we rented a car and drove from Disney World to Sarasota. Andrew met us at the harbor and we made our way to the yacht. Once there we met Jason (the president of the company and our diver) and our captain.
It took about 1/2 an hour to make our way into the Gulf of Mexico to the reef site. During this time we chatted away and enjoyed the ride. I can honestly say that from the moment we met Andrew and Jason everything felt easy and comfortable. There was nothing awkward or uneasy the whole day and they went out of their way to make sure everything was okay for us.
Once we reached the reef site, there was a short wait while Jason did an initial dive. Then he popped back up and we handed off the urn to him. He took it under the water and we had a chance to quietly say goodbye.
Once Andrew felt Jason had made it to the reef site he read a brief dedication. Then while we were waiting for Jason to reappear we were blessed with the appearance of two sea turtles who came right to the surface of the water and very close to our boat.
I was enchanted! Maybe I'm just too much of a land lover, but it really did feel magical in that moment.
Once Jason was back on board, dried off, and warmed up, we had lunch. It was a little funny, because it was a beautiful gourmet lunch with nothing I could eat because I forget to mention I'm a terribly fussy eater. My bad! Luckily everyone agreed to share in the feast and nothing went to waste. We toasted with campaign and shared a few memories.
The last part of the memorial was a chance to scatter rose petals over the site. We started very solemnly, but soon gave that up for a moment of joy. (I've cried a lot over the last year and this was a chance for happiness.)
After everything was finished, Andrew felt bad that I hadn't eaten so we did something out of the ordinary and went for cheese burgers! Again, I showed my land locked Canadian roots by being completely delighted by the burger shack we stopped at. You pull your boat up to the dock and just walk up to the counter!
Not only was it the neatest place, the burgers were really good!
On our way back to the harbor we took a different route to see the Ringling Brothers house (which I'm totally going to see next time we're in Sarasota!). As we were heading there, we spotted dolphins! The came so close I think I could have reached out and touched them!
Again, it felt magical. Like a gift telling me that things were going to be okay.
All in all, I couldn't have imagined a better tribute to my mummy. It was beautiful and joyful and she is now part of something living and growing. Here are a few pictures they sent us of the reef site.
Isn't it beautiful?
I can't say enough good things about this experience. We're even hoping to go back next year and take a crash course in diving so we can dive the site and see my mummy's reef for ourselves.
I hope this answers all the questions people had, if not, just ask.
That is so beautiful. I'm crying!
. You’ve had a very difficult journey the past year lovingly caring for your dear Mum. Hopefully now you’ve found some peace and can look forward to each new day 
