On December 12, 2009 the Screening Room on Koh Tao will host the Thailand premier of “Lost and Found-Legacy of the USS Lagarto” starting at 7:30. The screening room can be found across from Asia Divers resort in Sai Ree.

The documentary investigates the loss of the USS Lagarto, focusing on the submarine’s history and crew, events leading up to her sinking, and heart-felt memories and perspectives of family members.
USS Lagarto was one of 28 submarines built by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company during World War II.  Lagarto was on her second war patrol when she sank just weeks before the end of the war with 86 seamen aboard.  For 60 years, the sub was lost in the Pacific Ocean, her final resting place unknown.
Lagarto was finally found in 2005 by Mv Trident, sitting upright in 225 feet of water. To explore the first WWII sub ever found and capture underwater high-definition footage of Lagarto for a documentary, the Wisconsin Maritime Museum sponsored an expedition led by the History Channel’s “Deep Sea Detectives,” Richie Kohler and John Chatterton. This footage was also contributed with the help of Ace Marine Images.

With this history-making documentary, experience Kohler and Chatterton’s dive to explore the mystery behind Lagarto’s final battle.  The documentary includes excerpts of unforgettable interviews with the crew’s surviving family members, as well as first-hand battle experiences recalled by submarine veterans.  Learn what Lagarto’s discovery tells us about men of the sea during wartime and the families they left behind.

The film picked up the awards for the categories of Historical Documentary, Musical Composition/Arrangement and Writing in the Regional Emmy’s for Chicago, Midwest Region.
“We are delighted to announce that on Saturday night, 7 November 2009, the documentary, “Lost and Found”, about the submarine USS Lagarto was awarded three Emmys. It picked up up 5 nominations, including one for outstanding cinematography, and went home with 3 awards. We are proud to have been involved in such a spectacular and significant film and could not even have imagined that our underwater footage could have helped to bring about such acclaim.”

Here’s a trailer for the Emmy winning documentary - if you’re interested in getting hold of a copy visit http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/uss-lagarto.html#dvd

More info can be found here as well.

With a spray of water, Guy Gleichmann surfaces from a 40-foot dive during which he helped set his mother’s remains in their final resting place: a sunken city where brightly hued fish shimmy among fantastical architecture.

“I didn’t want to leave,” Gleichmann says, doffing mask and mouthpiece. “It’s so beautiful down there. It’s so serene.” The 48-year-old investment manager and diver from Pompano Beach, Fla., wanted a unique and accessible spot for his mother, Emma, who died in December at age 75. So he had her cremated remains mixed into concrete in the shape of a seashell, which was placed near the statue of a lion.

The reef, a subsidiary of the Neptune Society, the nation’s largest cremation company, opened in fall 2007 after four years of permitting hurdles. It encompasses 16 acres and features oversize sculptures: arches, columns, gates and benches, all designed by Key Largo artist Kim Brandell.

“I was trying to achieve some sort of sunken city, but not Atlantis,” Brandell says, calling his architectural style futuristic rather than classical.

The scale is appropriately gargantuan for an undersea necropolis: 5-ton columns on 50-ton bases, arches soaring 25 feet. About a tenth of the underwater sculpture garden has been developed, says project manager Jim Hutslar. When the entire reef is completed, perhaps in 10 years, its rings and spokes will resemble a massive mandala. Leaping dolphins, chariots and Neptune himself are planned as future monuments.

In the company’s Deerfield Beach plant, Hutslar mixes a client’s cremated remains into special underwater concrete in 10-pound sculptures of starfish, shells and coral. Family members can watch or participate. Some place small tokens from the deceased in the mix — fishing lures, angels or rosaries.

“Sometimes I warn the family,” Hutslar says. ” ‘If you start crying, I may cry.’ ”

On the reef, the sculptures are affixed to pavers along paths or set into columns and statuary. They eventually will be covered with coral, but plaques reveal who resides there. The cost is $2,600 for a standard placement of cremated remains. A cremation and placement package runs about $4,000.

Appealing to sea lovers, the reef is home to the remains of boat captains and divers. Others desire a unique alternative to the graveyard. “We’re seeing a lot of baby boomers because it’s different,” says Stephen Ziadie, Neptune Memorial Reef’s chief operating officer.

Fish swarm there by the hundreds; an eel and two stingrays have taken up residence. “As I’m working, they’re around my hands, trying to see what I’m doing,” Hutslar says.

Of the 1,200 spots in the reef’s initial development, more than half have been sold, he said. The company doesn’t own the site — it’s in international waters — but has federal and state permission to build on it.

Hutslar makes several maintenance dives to the reef each week, and places the remains of five to six people there a month. Nine family members of one woman learned to dive so they could watch him set her sculpture. “They all got certified for that one event,” he says.

Ron Hink, 54, of Fort Lauderdale, suggested the reef for his mother, Edith, when she was in a hospice. “She just lit up and said, ‘Gosh, I love the idea. I’ve always lived on the water, and I’ll have waterfront property,’ ” he recalls.

Hink bought space in a column for himself, his wife and two kids. “One by one we’ll all go there,” he says.

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