The Parrot Head Reef will be dedicated on September 1, 2025, two years after the passing of music’s beloved Jimmy Buffett, a passionate ocean conservation advocate.
The reef will be located in federal waters outside the sanctuary boundary off Key West, Florida, one of Buffet’s famously favorite and storied cities.
The project is a collaboration between Parrot Heads in Paradise (PHiP), a network of more than 200 social and charitable clubs around the USA, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Australia, and Eternal Reefs, the Sarasota, Florida-based creative environmental memorial non-profit dedicated to placing living legacies that help preserve the marine environment for future generations. Reef Innovations and the Reef Ball Foundation, sister organizations of Eternal Reefs, are also involved.
According to Bill Brehm, national president of Parrot Heads in Paradise:
“Our Parrot Head organization could not be more excited to get this project in the water. Because the Keys were such an influential part of Jimmy’s music and now his legacy, this is the perfect way to honor him by helping marine conservation efforts in an area so near and dear to Jimmy’s heart as well as many of our Parrot Head members.”
The Parrot Head Reef will be comprised of two sizes of reef balls, ranging in size from about 600 to 1,600 pounds (272kg to 726kg), and each will feature an 8-inch/20cm circular bronze plaque, custom-designed by each entity which purchases the memorial. The marine area will become a dedicated space for underwater memorials featuring individual reef balls containing plaques paying homage to the original beach lover and ocean advocate.
Eternal Reefs CEO George Frankel said:
“Over the course of more than 25 years helping families honor and memorialize their loved ones, we’ve learned one thing: connecting people with the ocean is extraordinarily powerful. The Parrot Head Reef will give Jimmy Buffett fans a unique and ongoing opportunity to put their own spin on how they honor the original Parrot Head while they simultaneously participate in Jimmy’s priority of ocean conservation.”
A reef ball is a hollow, vented structure created from environmentally friendly, pH-neutral concrete. Because they are vented, ocean currents pass through and fish love to play in them, circling in and out. The majority of weight is at the bottom of a reef ball, so it stays where it’s placed on the ocean floor. Mother Nature loves this material and begins her art project nearly immediately, adding natural marine matter to make it her own in as little as a few weeks.
The Parrot Head Reef will be located in the site permitted by Florida’s Monroe County that is .25 square acres (1012 square meters). The location, 21 miles/33.8km off Key West in 46 feet/14m of water, is outside Florida’s sanctuary boundary in federal waters and will feature a dedicated space to honor Jimmy Buffett and a cause he held so dear – ocean preservation.
While anyone may purchase a memorial, pricing preference will be given to PHiP members and clubs. In the week leading up to September 1, the completed memorials will be displayed in Key West for viewing by individuals and clubs. Costs are US$2,500/~€2,288 or $3,000/~€2,746 for the two sizes of reefs, each with an 8-inch/20cm custom plaque.
The memorials will be on display in a Key West park-type location toward the end of August and, pending weather, the first memorials in the Parrot Head Reef will be deployed, targeting a September 1 date.
Although Eternal Reefs is an ocean memorialization non-profit that exists primarily to help families create memorials to their loved ones by mixing their cremated remains to form an Eternal Reef, there are no plans currently to incorporate any cremated remains into the reef balls being placed on the Parrot Head Reef.
For more info, send an email to PHiP@eternalreefs.com, visit eternalreefs.com/parrot-head-reef/ or call +1-888-423-7333.
