We typically gather dockside at the ocean port of call and at the time of day of your choosing. Our dedicated staff, who will accompany your family for the entire experience, begins with a “Reef Brief”… a short explanation of what to expect from the moment of gathering until the moment we wish you farewell and safe travels. After the briefing, we’ll present you with your loved one’s Ocean Cremation Urn™, sealed and ready for ocean travel. We’ll give you and your family time with the reef, and we’ll even provide Sharpie® markers so that you can inscribe farewell messages to your loved one(s) before the reef is loaded on board for ocean transport.

For those who served our country with honor, we are proud to provide all the arrangements to have a military funeral honor guard meet us dockside to render Military Funeral Honors. The short ceremony includes the playing of Taps, and the presentation of the American flag, all provided to your family with the compliments of the military. Our arrangement of this ceremony is our small way of giving back to those service members and their families who protect and serve us around the globe every day.

We select our vessels and our crew for all our ports of call very carefully. Each of our vessels offers luxurious comfort, and our vessels, captain, and crew are always licensed and insured. As you board, the captain and crew, along with the Great Burial Reef® staff members, will acquaint you with the amenities and safety features of your vessel, offer you a chilled bottle of water, and guide you to the best seats aboard for our journey to the reef site (the federally-protected marine sanctuary you have chosen as the final resting place for your loved one). Once settled, we’ll cast off and head off to sea, and depending on the location you choose, there are always magnificent sights to see and share along the way. You’ll find that our crews have been carefully trained to be nearly invisible – after all, it’s your day… we’re just along to make sure it all goes well, that your safety is always our first priority, and that your day is comfortable, enjoyable, relaxing, and incredibly special.

The journey to the reef site takes between 30 minutes and an hour. Many families use this time to share memories and stories while they bask in the sunshine and gently whisk through the water. We can provide the music selections of your choice to provide a familiar background, and we can even provide a professional photographer to accompany you on your day’s journey at sea, so that the memories you call upon, and the memories you create, are never forgotten. The ride out is usually quiet – and we find that many people aboard are, for the first time, shedding the weight of landside life, embracing being surrounded by the magnificence of the sea, and focusing on the life that is being celebrated.

Once the vessel has reached the appointed coordinates of the reef site, the captain and crew will stabilize the vessel, and begin preparing the Ocean Cremation Urn™ for its final, triumphant and peaceful journey to the ocean floor. If you wish, we can help you create a special Dedication Ceremony… some families read letters or Bible verses, some say prayers, some sing songs, and some tell jokes. It’s all up to you. We have years of experience, and can help you create the perfect reflective moment befitting of your family. It typically takes 15-20 minutes to prepare the urn to be lowered into the water, and then our crew… when your family is ready… will gently lower the urn to its final resting place on the ocean floor. We customarily provide fresh rose petals for each participant to cast over the water as the urn is being lowered, but you’re welcome to bring your own as well.

Once the urn is safely and permanently in place on the ocean floor and we’ve recorded the precise GPS coordinates for the Certificate of Ocean Placement, we’ve learned over the years that the best thing we can do is disappear. We’ll give you and your family some space… and some time… to heave that much needed sigh of relief and reflect on the fact that almost instantly, life will begin to form on and around your loved one’s Ocean Cremation Urn™. Take as long as you need; the day is yours. We can help with food and beverages, we can join you in a commemorative champagne toast, we can provide towels if you want to jump in the water and go swimming – it’s totally up to you.

We don’t print itineraries and we don’t stick to schedules. There is a point at which nearly everyone is ready to return to shore, and it happens very naturally. When that moment arrives, we’ll ensure that everyone and everything is secure, we’ll pull anchor and circle the reef for one special and final farewell, and we’ll slowly head back to port. You’ll be surprised at the mood change on the way back; all these years later we still are. When folks board, they’re somewhat subdued, their expectant, and they’re focused. On the way back, it’s often quite a different story. Requests for livelier music are common, there is always some laughter, and there are always hugs. Lots and lots of hugs. You can’t imagine it until you’re there, but once you’re with us at sea, you’ll understand.