El Graduado
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Here is an excerpt from my book, The True History of Cozumel, available on Amazon Books:
"In 1984, Ramon Bravo, the famous underwater explorer and cinematographer from Isla Mujeres, approached Quintana Roo’s Governor Pedro Joaquín Coldwell with a plan for erecting a statue of Christ underwater on Palancar Reef. Pleased with the idea, the Governor commissioned the artist Enrique Miralda Bulnes to make a statue as a gift for Cozumel on behalf of the state government. When it was delivered to Cozumel by truck from Mexico City, one of the arms had broken off in transit and it had to be reattached in a local island repair shop. The statue, once reunited with its arm, was placed at the “Horseshoe” in Palancar Reef in 1984; I helped pour the concrete for its base in a mold we assembled on the deck of a wooden-hulled boat at Puerto de Abrigo. The finished cement base was placed on the seafloor at Palancar and the statue was lowered down onto the base and secured. However, the statue eventually was removed from Palancar and placed in the water in front of Chankanaab Park. The old base of the statue still remains on the seafloor at Palancar, and occasionally is visible when it is uncovered by storms or currents."
Below is a photo that Sergio Sandoval took a few years ago of part of the top of the concrete base peeking out of the sand:
Somewhere in my files I have a detailed drawing of the base and statue that was drawn at the time we placed it at Herradura in Palancar.
"In 1984, Ramon Bravo, the famous underwater explorer and cinematographer from Isla Mujeres, approached Quintana Roo’s Governor Pedro Joaquín Coldwell with a plan for erecting a statue of Christ underwater on Palancar Reef. Pleased with the idea, the Governor commissioned the artist Enrique Miralda Bulnes to make a statue as a gift for Cozumel on behalf of the state government. When it was delivered to Cozumel by truck from Mexico City, one of the arms had broken off in transit and it had to be reattached in a local island repair shop. The statue, once reunited with its arm, was placed at the “Horseshoe” in Palancar Reef in 1984; I helped pour the concrete for its base in a mold we assembled on the deck of a wooden-hulled boat at Puerto de Abrigo. The finished cement base was placed on the seafloor at Palancar and the statue was lowered down onto the base and secured. However, the statue eventually was removed from Palancar and placed in the water in front of Chankanaab Park. The old base of the statue still remains on the seafloor at Palancar, and occasionally is visible when it is uncovered by storms or currents."
Below is a photo that Sergio Sandoval took a few years ago of part of the top of the concrete base peeking out of the sand:
Somewhere in my files I have a detailed drawing of the base and statue that was drawn at the time we placed it at Herradura in Palancar.
The Italian statue was to honor the first Scuba diver and the one in Key Largo was commissioned by the Cressi family to honor their son who drowned while on Scuba. I guess they all have their reasons for being. 
