It will be his final resting place so David Saul was determined to pick the perfect place for his coffin — down at the bottom of the deep blue sea.

The 70-year-old former Premier took a diving trip with friends at the weekend to scout out the right location for his purpose-built casket, which was lowered into Devonshire Bay two years ago by his son Jonathan.

Dr. Saul — who has survived prostate cancer and a major heart attack and will have a hip resurfacing operation next Tuesday — plans to be buried at sea in the metal box to create an artificial coral reef for future generations of divers to visit.

The coffin has been resting on a reef 65 feet underwater since 2008 but on Saturday Dr. Saul found a place for it to sit for all eternity and plans to move it there once he has recovered from his surgery.

"We all jumped in and swam to the bottom and there was the metal box," he told The Royal Gazette. "I think we all laughed and I sat on it, then we swam around.

"We found the ideal spot to be on an area of old, dead coral in the middle of the reef where the box currently rests. It would make a perfect location to allow new coral growth to start on the box."

Underwater photographer Ron Lucas captured the moment on camera and local fish expert Judie Clee lay in her scuba gear in the proposed spot to confirm the box would fit.

It will be moved some 20ft to its new home in the next couple of months and, next year, the partial ashes of a university friend of Dr. Saul's daughter Robin will be placed inside.

"She will go in there first," he said, explaining that the young woman was so taken with his idea that she asked for some of her ashes to be placed there after her death.

Dr. Saul added: "I assume that in due course the location will become a dive site in its own right. There are lots of caves, caverns and beautiful reef and sandy spots in the area. There were lots of fish and even a large grouper."

The $5,000 coffin, which weighs about 600 lbs, was built by Dennis Correia, of Correia Construction Company, four years ago when Dr. Saul got permission from Government for his watery grave.

The former politician's will contains detailed instructions for divers from the British Sub-Aqua Club, who have agreed to take his body underwater in a sack and place it in the casket at his funeral.