You never know what you're going to run into when enjoying Florida waters. Manatees, sharks, trash, drugs, and dead people are usually what people run into.
In this case, a man who was riding a waverunner in the Intracoastal Waterway near North Miami Beach spotted a brass object bobbing up and down in the water.
Turns out, it was an urn from Guiding Light Cremations in Hollywood.
And yes, it had the remains of some unknown person inside it.
FLORIDA!
Geronimo Mena Jr. of Guiding Light Cremations says the floating urn was likely a burial at sea gone wrong.
Mainly because when a loved one asks to have their ashes dumped into the sea, it's probably best to open the urn, pour the ashes into the water, and then take the urn home and use it to keep spare nuts and bolts or something.
Since the urn had air in it, Mena says, it failed to sink. And someone's dead relative was floating around the Intracoastal Waterway like a warning buoy.
Mena wasn't a part of the original cremation but took the urn from the man who found it and hopes the relatives or next of kin will show up to claim it.
He also says he knows the remains are human because of the color, texture, and presence of bone particles, which is both kinda creepy and kinda cool.
The urn is unmarked. Ashes are normally placed inside a plastic bag with a metal tag tied around it to identify the deceased. These found ashes are inside a bag tied with a string.
According to Florida law, if no one claims the ashes in 120 days, they'll need to be discarded. Mena says he'll scatter them into the water himself.
Just not the Intracoastal. That, according to the law, is illegal.
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