I have actually heard about this before. I am pretty sure that you do NOT sprinkle the ashes down there! I have also watched the video on the website, and I think it is a beautifully sculptured reef, and something that everyone should try to see! I am NOT saying that I would personally want to be cremated and placed in the reef, but it is an excellent option for those who are planning on being cremated.

I handle the PR for the Neptune Memorial Reef. I have left several messages for you. You wrote this story without ever seeing the Reef in person or talking to anyone at Neptune. Are you a serious journalist? To write that we sprinkle ashes like fish food is not only totally inaccurate but scandalous. You are giving bloggers a bad name. Since you are a digital writer, I am requesting that you change your copy immediately.

Thank you

Lois Whitman
HWH PR/New Media
212 355 5049 x 105

I want to either be interred in an artificial reef or made into a diamond.

Epilogue: I just spoke with Lois Whitman, who represents the Neptune Memorial Reef. She was concerned about the description of the ashes being sprinkled like fish food. Just to let the readers know: That line was more playful than serious. As Lois emphasized to me, the remains are handled with the utmost care and respect. However, just for the record, I did speak to someone at the public relations firm about the reef, who supplied me with the information on the reef and interment.

Lois, get a life. Barring that, get a sense of humor! As for me, I've asked me friend to sprinkle my ashes (a la Shawshank Redemption) in the White House rose garden. The up-side is that I double that it will ever be built over. The down-side? I'm not all that fond of the present residents.

Well, I for one do not want to while away the years in a pastoral setting of greenery and monuments. While the thought of being reduced to cinders doesn't bother me, I do want to do more. I have decided to finally go to Medical School. Then, after I have metriculated, I'll head to the communal dustbin with the rest of the class.

I would like nothing more than to be eaten by bugs or whatever during natural decomposition at a "body farm" like the one that played a role in one episode of CSI. Barring that (or maybe after it), burial in a "natural" cemetery where one's remains can actually return to the food web, rather than being enclosed in a hermetically-sealed box of some sort. But becoming part of a reef would be cool, too.

Ironic that Lois accused you of writing your story without checking the facts when, in fact, SHE was the one who wrote without checking the facts. Do I want to spend my after-life at Neptune listening to that shrieking? No thank you.

There's a company that will launch your ashes into space. (Actor James Doohan from "Star Trek" and astronaut Gordon Cooper did this). I always wanted to be an astronaut, but it was not to be. So my kids have strict instructions to send me up into space as my "final frontier".

The Remarkable Rocks, Kangaroo Island, Australia. Worth every penny of the plane tickets to get my mourners to such a beautiful place.

I want to be cremated and have my ashes thrown into a pretty part of Lake Como. My family and interested friends can celebrate with a few days in northern Italy.

My putative heirs are already competing to be the one who takes an around-the-world ticket to deposit my ashes in my favorite places on earth--Nantucket, Paris, Phuket, Hong Kong, Sydney, and San Francisco. I do like the diamond idea too--but again, too many heirs.

This is a great post. I am not ready to die yet..lol My wife and I just got back from a vacation to Orlando last week. We bought the package through Universal Adventure USA. What a blast! The weather was much better than it is up here in the North, and there was plenty to do. The accommodations were lovely. I usually do not review things, but Universal Adventure puts together a great deal and you should check them out. The only number I have for them is 866-800-0580.

Martin
From Michigan