Underwater Sculpture Park ReefLine Debuts First Phase

Miami is a city with plenty of art above ground, but its latest and greatest installation requires diving beneath its glistening blue seas—but you don’t need a ticket (or even a boat) to go. ReefLine, an underwater sculpture park and hybrid reef, recently debuted its first phase just offshore from 4th and 5th Streets in Miami Beach.

Located a swimmable 780 feet off the beach, Argentine artist Leandro Erlich’s “Concrete Coral” takes Miami’s notorious traffic jams underwater, turning a major source of emissions into a creative statement on global warming; the installation consists of 22 marine-grade cars built from a pH-neutral, low-carbon concrete mix that will be seeded with thousands of transplanted corals grown at ReefLine’s Miami Native Coral Lab in nearby the nearby neighborhood of Allapattah in the coming months.

Phase two—“The Miami Reef Star” by Carlos Betancourt and Alberto Latorre and “Heart of Okeanos” by Petroc Sesti—will come next, and are set to debut in 2026. All deployments will be planted with Coral Lok technology, which helps establish new coral growth quickly and boosts the health of the local marine environment.

The plan is that the 10-year, $40 million project will eventually stretch seven miles along the coastline of Miami. The project is the brainchild of Ximena Caminos and is part of a grander vision to blend public art with marine science and ocean education, creating new seafloor habitats while sparking conversation around Florida’s vulnerable marine ecosystems.

But you don’t need to be a certified diver to explore ReefLine. With the art sitting just 15 to 20 feet below the surface, even snorkelers can swim out to peruse the sunken “gallery” at leisure. But getting there in style—specifically, on custom electric paddleboards ReefLine created in partnership with BMW and SipaBoards—is also an option, at least during Art Week. This is Miami, after all. There are also snorkel and dive boat excursions that depart from nearby South Pointe Park and Miami Beach Marina if you prefer a more guided experience.

If you opt to explore on your own, note that ReefLine is an open-water dive site situated beyond the beach’s protected swimming area and is not monitored by lifeguards; to assure safety, you’ll need to do your research into tides and conditions before venturing out, and always swim out with a Diver-Down flag.

And make sure to use reef-safe sunscreen and never touch corals or marine life, at ReefLine or elsewhere—even light contact can damage this already-fragile ecosystem.