Dave and Patrick — husbands, divers, and tireless explorers of South Beach’s waters — found the nearshore reef while paddleboarding off South Pointe in 2021. What started as a chance discovery turned into an obsession. They’ve been exploring the site ever since — by paddleboard, underwater scooter, and fin power — logging dive after dive on the ridge.

Both are NAUI Divemasters who spend as much time underwater as possible. The more of the reef they saw, the clearer it became: a living reef this close to shore, in the middle of a major city, deserved a boundary of its own. So they brought it to Urban Paradise Guild — and together began the work of turning that conviction into a protected marine park.