growing up did you ever go snorkeling along florida's scenic highway 30a along with picking
up seashell fragments and playing tag with sand crabs snorkeling is a childhood ritual that
many of us no doubt share the colorful and cheap plastic masks of our youth were usually leaky and
ill-fitting often leaving behind unflattering rashes and cut marks behind sunburned ears
of course just as soon as you finally got that mask strapped on as tightly as humanly possible
it would instantly fog up effectively rendering you completely blind both above and below the
water's surface and then when that magical moment finally arrived when you could briefly glimpse
into the never-ending nautical abyss well let's admit it there really wasn't a whole lot to see
down there even just a few years ago i mean at least along this particular stretch of coast
that's because this region of the gulf of mexico is 95 percent barren salt flats
yep this is essentially the sahara desert of the underwater world of course just like the desert
life exists here but it's often spread out and hidden from plain sight
among endless miles of barren sand but a few years ago in walton county florida
a non-profit group known as south walton artificial reef association
or suara for short began creating a network of artificial reefs along these white sandy shores
these artificial reefs instantly became thriving oases in a seemingly endless desert sea
so sparta was started in 2013. it was an idea that came about in response to the 2010
bp oil spill disaster a lot of these panhandle communities and counties were very concerned
about the effects that was going to have and so all of us at suarez kind of got started thinking
what can we do to help bring more awareness to our natural resources what we came up with was
to create a network of artificial reef systems and so any sort of structure that we put out
there is going to attract fish is going to help bolster the marine ecosystem that's where the
sustainability sort of starts this is this is a place that not only fish can eat but they can live
meanwhile another local non-profit the cultural arts alliance had an inspired idea to create an
underwater museum before long the artists and the reef makers hooked up and their unlikely offspring
would produce something truly remarkable the caa is obviously known for our artistic programming
allison wiki was on our board at the time she's a local artist she's a diver and she
had been down below to see the artificial reefs that were already in place and so she
came to me with the idea to put art underwater as artificial reef and it was so beautiful and
wonderful to be able to partner with a non-arts organization to make the project come to fruition
and it took not just the two organizations but the county private sector contributions
individuals and it was just a really great collaboration on all fronts the south walton
artificial reef association set aside one acre of its already permitted seabeds off
of grayton beach state park to create a new underwater space for this extraordinary exhibit
many months later in 2018 when these first massive sculptures were slowly and precisely lowered into
the gulf of mexico 30a's underwater museum of art instantly became america's first permanent
underwater sculpture garden called uma for short this extraordinary underwater museum of art
resides less than a mile off the coast at a depth of approximately 58 feet
leading up to deployment day is very exciting and very nerve-wracking because it all depends on the
weather and then the day of when we finally get to do it it's so exciting because we have
artists there we have sponsors it's kind of bittersweet because i know as someone who isn't a
diver that i will never see them again so i feel a bit of sadness saying goodbye to them but it's so
beautiful to watch them submerge in the water it's just there's nothing like it it's really magical
30a's underwater museum of art became a sensation
almost overnight time magazine named uma one of the world's 100 greatest places
and it's been covered in countless publications and news sources ever since
i love how we've had some returning artists marisol rendon and ingram ober have created two
pieces with their last one three wishes divers can actually use their regulator to blow air
from their tank into the piece where bubbles will come out of the end and it is so cool to see
of course every day most of the guests who tour this museum aren't humans at all
that's because these sculptures were designed to serve as thriving living breathing marine habitats
very quickly many different species of florida corals and sponges begin to encase each sculpture
that's when they really come to life
the museum also provides marine scientists wildlife management professionals
ecologists and students with a unique opportunity to study marine life
and to measure the impact of artificial reef systems on our golf ecosystem
as a kid growing up along the beaches of 30a i remember making my own pulse beer you know after
reading some some terry moss book or something from sea hunt and we'd swim out there on the
second sandbar for three or four hours and if we saw one fish it was a good day if we saw two fish
great day and now you know fast forward to 2015 and now 2021 you can swim right out there and just
be surrounded by all kinds of creatures huge schools of fish you can see sharks out there
sea turtles manta rays we have seen all kinds of different species that we do not generally see in
this shallow of water or even some that we don't even see this far north in the gulf sometimes
it's just fantastic to see what swara has been able to do with these reef deployments
when two unlikely partners joined forces these artists and reef makers not only created
something aesthetically beautiful they created living ecosystems that will outlast us all in
the meantime america's first and only underwater museum of art will serve to inspire to educate and
to provide a vibrant habitat for our good friends and neighbors who call the gulf of mexico home
so
you