14 DAY TRIAL // This past weekend, fish and other dwellers of the deep that inhabit the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in the United States got to experience first flipper what being in the front row at a concert is all about.
Thus, on Saturday, a set of underwater speaker made this protected area a tad more entertaining than it usually is by piping music below the surface for about four hours in a row.
The speakers were installed in the proximity of a living coral barrier reef, and blasted out tunes such as Beatles' “Octopus's Garden,” and “The Little Mermaid” themes. The soundtrack to hit TV series “Flipper” was also played.
The event was attended by about 500 divers and snorkelers who one can only assume are big fans of music. Of the folks who went to this peculiar undersea concert on Saturday, some even pretended to be musicians themselves.
More precisely, Triple M tells us that, while taking part in this event, some of the divers and snorkelers grabbed hold of musical instrument replicas sculpted by artist August Powers and pretended to sing along.
This July 12 undersea concert in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in the United States was the brainchild of radio station WWUS, that worked closely with Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce to ensure the success of this initiative.
As it turns out, this past Saturday's undersea concert was not the first event of its kind WWUS has until now organized. On the contrary, the radio station first started pining music below the surface about 30 years ago. In time, the concerts grew to be an annual event.
Talking to the press, organizer Bill Becker has explained that, at the time the radio station's first undersea concert took place, pretty much everybody expected it to also be the last. However, people took such a liking to the idea that the event is now tradition.
As cool as the idea to listen to music while swimming around with fish and other marine creatures might sound, the fact remains that, more often than not, wild animals do not really enjoy having loud speakers disturb their daily routine.
Consequently, there are many who believe such undersea concerts to be bad for the environment, and who would just love it if WWUS were to reconsider and stop organizing such events. However, the radio station does not see things quite like this.
On the contrary, Bill Becker and fellow underwater music enthusiasts say that, whenever one such concert is organized, divers and snorkelers are told to do their best to disturb local wildlife as little as possible, and to avoid causing any damage to aquatic ecosystems.