PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The family and loved ones of missing freediver Virgil Price III are turning tragedy into positivity by working to create an artificial reef in his honor.
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The 39-year-old West Palm Beach native disappeared during a freediving on Mother's Day last year in the area of the Halsey shipwreck near the Fort Pierce inlet and never resurfaced.
"I miss him with all my heart, I don't think there's a day that goes by that you don't cry," said Virgil's mother, Kate Cerasaro.
The family spoke exclusively last year during a memorial vigil for Virgil.
"You know we don't have a grave, we don't have a body, it's been a really, really challenging year," said Brit Drozda, Virgil's younger sister. "I did not expect to live my life without him."
The family said Virgil loved the ocean, and was an experienced diver who could hold his breath for about five minutes.
It's a talent that he was preparing to showcase in a competition at the world championships for freediving in Greece last year.
"He wouldn't have wanted us to be in a state of sadness, he was a very happy fun-loving guy, so in the spirit of Virgil, I keep trying to maintain that positivity and bring it out when I can," said Drozda.
It's a sadness that they've turned into advocacy through an idea to create the Virgil Price III: A Memorial Reef Project.
It's an artificial reef where an early rendering of the features Virgil along side his two dogs that he left behind, his passion for spearfishing, and efforts on marine conservation.
"I think he would just love it, I just think it's so Virgil," said Cerasaro. "To have fish swimming in and out of it and all around there and adding something to the ecosystem is just what he would love."
"To have a place that we can go and remember him and know it's something that the would've loved is really something that I treasure," added Drozda.
The project is still going through permitting, and the design isn't final.
Family and loved ones are currently trying to fundraise money to create the project.
They're working with the group ReefCells and plan to donate to the Palm Beach County reef program.
Behind the fundraiser has been Megan Romine, a close friend of Virgil.
"It's special to me too, because the last time I went freediving was with Virgil," said Romine.
She said she hasn't been able to get into the water since his disappearance, but plans to get back in the water once the reef is installed.
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"Having Virgil's memory live on and knowing that he loved this sport so much, he was able to help me get into the sport," said Romine. "And this is going to continue to share his legacy for so many years to come and so many people are going to enjoy and love the ocean just like he did."
Organizers plan to donate the extra money raised for the project to the Palm Beach County reef program and to the non profit Underwater Hypoxic Blackout Prevention (UHB).
It's a condition that can happen when a swimmer, practicing breath-holding, blacks out from lack of oxygen.
Family believes UHB is what caused Virgil to drown.
"When things happen in our lives that are tragic, I think they can be learned from and turned into doing something good, and that's why we created this organization to spare families from the loss that we suffered," said Rhonda Milner emotionally.
She created the UHB non-profit after she found her son, Whitner, had drowned in her pool 14 years ago, while he was practicing for a spearfishing trip.
Whitner and Virgil were childhood friends.
"At first it was so hard to understand, because he was such a strong swimmer and you assume your body is going to warn you that you need to go and breath when you need to, but it doesn't happen like that," said Milner. "The problem is when you blackout underwater it's very quiet and subtle, so there's not a lot of movement so by looking at someone directly you can't tell they blacked out."
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She believes UHB is the leading cause of death for experienced swimmers saying there's no warning before a blackout and is advocating for swimmers to swim with a partner who establish physical checks with each other while on a dive and can render aid in an emergency.
The exact location and final design of the artificial reef will be determined by Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resource Management.
Organizers hope to have the project complete and deployed summer of 2027, fundraising goals permitting.
"I'm not the first person whose lost a child, I'm not going to be the last person whose lost a child," said Cerasaro. "I just wish to bring safety to people and prevent it from happening to somebody else."
