MIAMI — As Art Basel Miami Beach drew art lovers and enthusiasts from around the world, a South Florida project is using the global spotlight for strategic environmental engagement.

“Art Week is a very important week because, you know, all eyes are on Miami worldwide. And we use that window of opportunity to…create a ripple effect,” said Ximena Caminos, founder and artistic director of The Reefline.

The Reefline is an underwater sculpture park and hybrid reef — the first of its kind in the nation — located just off South Beach. It has emerged as Miami’s newest ecotourism destination.

“For me, the Reefline is so important because it really connects Miami to this amazing ecosystem we have right off our shoreline,” said Colin Foord, The Reefline’s director of science.

Six weeks after its first deployment off Fourth Street Beach, Art Week provided a new chance to introduce a global audience to The Reefline’s mission of ocean conservation and to check on the reef’s early progress.

“What’s amazing is to see within just the five to six weeks we’ve been underwater, the amount of life that is just naturally recruited onto these cars without us adding anything is remarkable…we’re seeing an explosion of red and green microalgae," Foord said. “The cars are covered in barnacles…There’s just a huge population of trigger fish that are so curious. They come right up to your face to greet you."

But the day wasn’t just about art. It was also about science. The Reefline teamed up with the University of Miami’s Rescue a Reef program to outplant lab-grown coral on the hoods of the underwater sculptures — with help from a special guest diver.

Sylvia Earle, one of the world’s leading oceanographers and conservationists, suited up for the dive. Earle has spent decades exploring oceans around the globe and holds the record for the deepest untethered dive.

“Sylvia has been a mentor and a very good mother to us. She’s the one who actually gave us the strength to continue with this project…” Caminos said.

“She’s like the Neil Armstrong of the ocean… We call her ‘Her Deepness’ because she really is just a living treasure to humanity and our planet, and she’s such a great ambassador for the ocean,” Foord said.

At 90 years old, Earle put on her wetsuit, strapped on her scuba gear and prepared to return to the water she has devoted her life to.

Flanked by coral scientists Foord and Diego Lirman of the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School, she planted the very first corals on The Reefline — two gorgonian soft corals and a stony coral.

“It’s like a garden down there. And the fish are so curious. They want to come and tell you what it’s like,” Earle said.

Special permits were required for the outplanting, which is more than symbolic. The work is a groundbreaking experiment that may offer a path to restoring lost coral cover.

The image of one of the world’s foremost ocean advocates planting one of Florida’s most threatened species underscored the moment’s significance.

“I think it’s cause for hope. We can help put things back. We’re the cause of the problem, but we can also be the cure,” Earle said.

“I think that what we’re doing is through the power of the arts. We’re helping tell a different story…. The ocean is every second breath we take is supported by the ocean,” Caminos added.

“Everyone should experience what it’s like to dive in. It’s here. It’s our world. We have to do everything we can to take care of the ocean as if our lives depend on it. Because they do,” Earle said.

Leandro Erlich’s “Concrete Coral,” consisting of 22 submerged cars, marks just the beginning of an 11-phase project. The Reefline’s underwater sculpture trail is expected to stretch seven miles along the Miami Beach coast.

Organizers say more deployments are planned — and soon, the public may even have the chance to outplant corals themselves.

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