If you’d been boating in San Pedro Harbor one afternoon in 2022, you might have witnessed a strange ritual. A family sailed from California into international waters, hundreds of feet deep. As one woman sang, the rest tipped a long object wrapped in cloth into the water. One man even jumped in after it, treading water and watching as it sank beneath him. This object was the shrouded body of his mother. The ritual was a “full body” burial at sea.

Each year, thousands of folks request to have their ashes spread in the ocean. But most people don’t even know that a full body burial at sea is an option. “They think it’s only for the military,” says Ken McKenzie, a funeral director in Long Beach. But that perception is changing. In 2020, 162 Californians were buried this way, according to the EPA. McKenzie, who has facilitated around 175 full-body sea burials in his 32-year career, notes the increasing interest: “That’s not because people don’t want it. They aren’t aware you can have it.”

The choice appeals to people for different reasons. For Diane Berol, a sailor and self-described “semi-radical environmentalist,” her husband’s funeral was about leaving a lighter footprint. “Cremation requires burning and that puts CO2 in the air, and that’s not OK,” she explained. When her husband, John, passed, she followed federal guidelines for sea burial: using a stainless steel coffin drilled with 20 holes to ensure it would sink quickly. She plans to join him at the same GPS coordinates someday.

While a full-body sea burial avoids the emissions of cremation, it’s not entirely eco-friendly. To meet the EPA’s requirement of conducting burials at least three miles offshore, the Berols used a powerboat. Most burials involve at least one vessel, often two or more boats for family and friends. The fuel burned can rival or exceed the 28 gallons it takes to cremate an average body.

A burial at sea is deeply symbolic

Still, for those who love the sea, its symbolic and emotional appeal outweighs these considerations. Olivia Bareham, founder of Sacred Crossings Funeral Home, summarizes the idea of buying a burial plot as “the ridiculousness of owning a piece of property for 1,000 years.” She believes younger generations are embracing alternatives, like burial at sea, because they feel more meaningful. “In this digital age, it makes more sense to have coordinates than an actual physical space,” she explained.

Some mourners return to the exact GPS coordinates where their loved one was laid to rest. For others, the entire ocean becomes a memorial. After Regine Verougstraete’s burial in a shroud off San Pedro Harbor, her friend Kato Wittich said, “She’s become part of everything.” Now, every trip to the water is a reminder of her.

Milton Love, a marine biologist at UC Santa Barbara, notes that even the environmental impact can be nuanced. A casket might create habitat for coral and anemones, but it could also disrupt the natural seafloor if it lands on soft sediment. Yet compared to other waste humans introduce into the ocean, a well-prepared burial at sea is far from the worst offender.

Full-body burials at sea are rare and logistically challenging, but they provide a deeply personal way to say goodbye. Whether driven by environmental beliefs, emotional connections, or a simple love of the ocean, more people are finding peace beneath the waves.