Divers and snorkellers were among the audience of a four-hour underwater concert to promote coral reef protection in the Florida Keys.
The Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival took place at Looe Key Reef, an area of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary which is approximately six miles south of Big Pine Key.
The sanctuary, which was launched in 1990, protects 3,800 square miles of water which includes the barrier reef.
Those who attended the show swam with Looe Key’s colourful marine life and coral formations while they listened to water-themed music broadcast by local radio station 104.1 FM and the Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce. The music was piped undersea through waterproof speakers fixed underneath boats, above the reef.
Some of the tunes included ’Yellow Submarine’ by the Beatles, Jimmy Buffett’s ‘Fins’ and the theme from ’The Little Mermaid’.
The concert playlist included diver awareness messages, promoting ways to reduce environmental impacts on the world’s coral reefs, known as the rainforests of the sea because of their rich biodiversity.
The main purpose of the festival was to encourage reef preservation, however, it was an extraordinary underwater experience for those who attended. ‘Mermaids’ were among some of the characters in costume who added to the amazing visual and auditory show, on part of the continental United States’ only living coral barrier reef.
