If you appreciate art and nature and want a more unusual experience, the Underwater Sculpture Gardens of Grenada and Mexico are a perfect choice to be seen to be believed! With the mission to encourage, restore and sustain the coral reef growth and biodiversity of the area, the sculpture gardens are an ideal venue for divers and snorkelers alike. And depending on which operator you go with, the prices for certified divers range from $45 to $65.
Grenada’s Underwater Sculpture Garden
Known as Caribbean’s ‘Spice Isle’, Grenada has much to offer its visitors, especially seagoing tourists, from amazing forest reserves to picturesque waterfalls to a vast array of gorgeous white sandy beaches to name but a few. But what draws more and more visitors from every part of the globe year after year is the stunning-and-unique-of-its-kind Underwater Sculpture Park –the newest attraction of the island’sbeautiful shallow waters, based on the original sculptures of the famous British sculptor and diver Jason De Caires Taylor, who has a special passion for creating fantastic pieces of work showcasing Grenada’s history and folklore.
Ideally nestled in Moilinere bay ,on the island’s west coast, within an area designated a National Marine Park, this striking artistic seabed display (created in 2006) is the first in the world, comprising a collection of sixty-five sculptures that covers a total area of around 800 square meters. One of the most famous sculptures in Grenada includes the awe-inspiring Vicissitudes that were cast from children with diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Currently Taylor is the Director of the Museo Subaquatico de Arte (MUSA) in Cancun, Mexico where he has recently exhibited another wonderful collection, the 400 life size statues called ‘Silent Evolution.’
Underwater Sculpture Garden of Mexico, Cancun
On the West Coast of Isla Mujeres, the Cancun Marine Park (Yucatan Peninsula)boasts one of the most visited stretches of water in the world dazzling hundreds of thousands of visitors annually who come to explore something really unusual and unique.This miracle is the pretty new underwater sculpture museum, which is the largest in the world,featuring regular characters from Cancun and Puerto Morelos as well as a famous TV presenter.Just 10 meters beneath the sea level, the sculptures,made from a special concrete that’s PH neutral and anti-corrosive, are designed to become artificial reefs and it’s natural that in some time their appearance will change as the coral grows.
In the first phase of the project three sculptures were installed, namely ‘Dream Collector’ (Coleccionista de los Sueños), ‘Man of Fire’ (Hombre en Llamas) and ‘The Gardener of Hope’ (La Jardiniera de la Esperanza) and later the ‘Silent Evolution’ was submerged, consisting of 400 figurative works that form a vast gathering of people with an aim to define a new era of living. But this is not the end, as Jason De Caires Taylor – the garden’s creator, has commenced the third stage of the museum that will host special underwater cultural events celebrating the Arts and Science. Recently, the author has added a new, 8-ton cement replica of a Volkswagen Beetle to Cancun’s Underwater Museum.
