The Underwater Museum of Art is the first permanent underwater sculpture garden in the U.S. Located in the Gulf of Mexico, about a mile off the beach in South Walton, the museum lies at a depth of 58-feet and at a distance of .93-miles from the shore of Grayton Beach State Park.
Each year, a juried selection of sculptural works, drawn from artists throughout the world, is installed in the underwater garden. The sculptures quickly attract a wide variety of marine life and over time becomes a living reef. The eco-tourism attraction not only entices art lovers and divers from around theworld, it provides a much-needed habitat for local marine life as well as providing marine scientists, wildlife management professionals, ecologists, and students, with an opportunity to study marine life and measure the impact of artificial reef systems on the Gulf ecosystem.
Learn more at www.umafl.org.
In 2018, The Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County (CAA) in partnership with South Walton Artificial Reef Association (SWARA) and support from Visit South Walton, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Alys Foundation, and Visit Florida joined two of South Walton, Florida’s most beloved attractions – the arts and the Gulf of Mexico – with the introduction of The Underwater Museum of Art (UMA), North America’s first underwater permanent sculpture exhibit.
Visitors who wish to experience the site at-depth should be certified divers who are comfortable swimming in open water. The coordinates for the center sculpture (SWARA Skull) are N 30*18.754 W 086*09.562. Out of respect for the art, boaters are asked to find the center location and then move away from the park to anchor in order to avoid damage to the artwork.