Brand new. Please give me all your knowledge :)

[Lo1991]

Hi! I am in fort Washington, MD but spend a lot of time for work and other reasons in northern VA. I have been desperately trying to figure out how to get involved in the mermaid community. I was up all night trying to find out if there are any mermaid "schools" or training in my area. I have come up with zero places around me :( Can anyone help me on how to get started ? I have been very intrigued by this and would love to get any and all information. I have a 5 year old daughter and I think this is something once I become well trained we could do together :)

[Dancing Fish]

Welcome! Best training is to watch how mermaids on Youtube swim...then get yourself a monofin (Fin Fun is a great starter fin) and try it out! It's not too hard if you're already comfortable in the water. Do ask the pools in your area if they're cool with the tails, though. Otherwise anything you want to know (making a tail, doing tricks, underwater makeup, etc) is on here somewhere, you just have to look!

[PearlieMae]

Hi Lo1991! Welcome to the network.

Dancing Fish is wise, plus the resources here are great! Just look around, the search tool is your friend!

[malinghi]

If pools are unwilling to let you swim in a tail, they are more likely to let you swim in a monofin. I find that asking a pool if they allow people to swim with fins is a lot easier than explaining mermaid tails. Also, if you're new to this its probably a good idea to start with a monofin first anyway.

Also, merfolk are social. Who needs a mermaid school if you can find merfolk in your area and go to a swimming meetup? Generally pods organize events through facebook. Here's a link for the Chesapeake pod facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/348176108528192/

If you haven't joined that facebook group already, go ahead and join. If there's not a meetup scheduled soon, feel free to start one. Also, you can get an idea of some of the mers in your area by looking at the mernetwork member map:
http://mernetwork.com/index/dcMembermap.php

[Lo1991]

thanks so much! looking up fin fun now and joining facebook link :) So do most people just start on their own as well and link up through social sites like this ?

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Long story short, I saw someone else at the pool with a big yellow monofin on, and went home that day to try to find that "fin" and see what it does.

Then I found this place, really wonderful! Filled with like minded merfolk, friends from all round the world, in all walks of life.

2 years later, I can't believe its been 2 years! Anyhoo, 2 years later, I have a small collection of monofins and several homemade and pre-made tails. How I learned to swim this way is by watching all the mermaid swim videos on youtube. Including the free diving and finswimming ones.