Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!
08-07-2013, 03:32 PM
I was wondering if any of the locations where mermaids (and mermen) were traditionally spotted allow swimming in general, and tail swimming in particular.
Some of the places I can think of (or which were found on the mermaid wikipedia page) include:
* The Rocks of the Sirens in Capri (while there are beaches in Capri, and boat tours go past the Rocks of the Sirens, as well as the Blue, Green, and White Grottoes, I seem to recall the Rocks of the Sirens themselves being a bit far from the beach, and I don't think swimming is allowed at any of the grottoes anymore).
* Santorini (one of the possible locations of Atlantis, which does have beaches)
* The Minch in Scotland (I have no idea if there are beaches in that part of northern Scotland, or what the weather and water temperature are like)
* Lusignan, France (where Melusine was found in a spring)
* Near the ruins of Anthedon in Greece (birthplace of Glaucus)
* The Lorelei rock in Germany on the Rhine
* Pylos, Thebes, and Athens (the earliest known locations of Poseidon's worship)
* Naxos (where Poseidon first laid eyes upon Amphitrite)
* Rhodes (named for Rhode, daughter of Poseidon and someone else (possibly Amphitrite), the patron goddess of the region)
* Libya (Triton's home was supposed to be either off the coast or in Lake Tritonis)
* Aegae (either in Achaea or Euboea... Poseidon's home was supposed to be off the coast of one of them, and cults to Poseidon were popular in both)
* Copenhagen (site of the Little Mermaid statue)
* Swimming with dugongs or manatees
* Dura-Europos and other parts of ancient Northern Syria, home to Atargatis
* Macedonia or Thessaly on the Aegean, where Thessalonike asked whether her brother Alexander the Great lived
* Khurasan (in Iran and Turkey, so unlikely a good vacation spot, but the location of the palace where Julanar Sea-Born was wooed by her Sultan and gave birth to Bedr-Basim)
* Near Durham Castle (the oldest visual representation of a mermaid)
* Lorntie (in Forfarshire, what I believe is now Angus in Scotland, where the Laird of Lorntie was narrowly rescued from being drowned by a lake mermaid posing as a struggling woman)
* Pendour Cove and Zennor in Cornwall, England (where a mermaid came to love a human Chorister, and their voices can still be heard singing today, according to legend, also home to the mermaid chair at the Church of Saint Senara)
* Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland (Where Li Ban lived and was eventually baptized, gaining an immortal soul)
* The Isle of Man (home to the Ben-Varrey)
* Namtao Island in China
* Sri Lanka (where Suvannamacha tries to prevent Hanuman from building a bridge)
* The Neo-Taino nations (home to the Aycayia)
* The Southern beach in Java (home to mermaid queen Nyi Roro Kidul)
* Wakasa Province in Japan (where a fisherman caught a ningyo and a girl who ate it's flesh became immortal)
* Hispaniola (where Columbus spotted three mermaids)
* Blackbeard's logbook supposedly described enchanted waters, which he recommended his crew avoid for fear of mermaids and mermen, which he claimed to have seen... however, I'm not sure where one could find a copy of this logbook to figure out which ones these were.
* Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. (mermaid sightings between 1870 and 1890, and 1967)
* Kei Islands (in 1943, a Japanese soldiers reported seeing a number of creatures resembling merfolk (Orang Ikan in Malay) here. One Sgt. was convinced when a body was caught in nets and brought to him to examine, but scientists back in Japan apparently refused to believe him)
*Kirat Yam in Israel, where a 2009 sighting of a mermaid prompted the government to offer million dollar reward for proof
*Nova Olinda in Brazil, home of the Iara
* Gokwe and Mutare in Zimbabwe
* Warsaw (whose coat of arms features a mermaid)
* Norfolk Virginia (symbol is a mermaid)
* Long Beach, where the Jersey Devil was spotted serenading a mermaid in 1870
I'd even consider movie locations, like some from Splash, a possibility
Some of the places I can think of (or which were found on the mermaid wikipedia page) include:
* The Rocks of the Sirens in Capri (while there are beaches in Capri, and boat tours go past the Rocks of the Sirens, as well as the Blue, Green, and White Grottoes, I seem to recall the Rocks of the Sirens themselves being a bit far from the beach, and I don't think swimming is allowed at any of the grottoes anymore).
* Santorini (one of the possible locations of Atlantis, which does have beaches)
* The Minch in Scotland (I have no idea if there are beaches in that part of northern Scotland, or what the weather and water temperature are like)
* Lusignan, France (where Melusine was found in a spring)
* Near the ruins of Anthedon in Greece (birthplace of Glaucus)
* The Lorelei rock in Germany on the Rhine
* Pylos, Thebes, and Athens (the earliest known locations of Poseidon's worship)
* Naxos (where Poseidon first laid eyes upon Amphitrite)
* Rhodes (named for Rhode, daughter of Poseidon and someone else (possibly Amphitrite), the patron goddess of the region)
* Libya (Triton's home was supposed to be either off the coast or in Lake Tritonis)
* Aegae (either in Achaea or Euboea... Poseidon's home was supposed to be off the coast of one of them, and cults to Poseidon were popular in both)
* Copenhagen (site of the Little Mermaid statue)
* Swimming with dugongs or manatees
* Dura-Europos and other parts of ancient Northern Syria, home to Atargatis
* Macedonia or Thessaly on the Aegean, where Thessalonike asked whether her brother Alexander the Great lived
* Khurasan (in Iran and Turkey, so unlikely a good vacation spot, but the location of the palace where Julanar Sea-Born was wooed by her Sultan and gave birth to Bedr-Basim)
* Near Durham Castle (the oldest visual representation of a mermaid)
* Lorntie (in Forfarshire, what I believe is now Angus in Scotland, where the Laird of Lorntie was narrowly rescued from being drowned by a lake mermaid posing as a struggling woman)
* Pendour Cove and Zennor in Cornwall, England (where a mermaid came to love a human Chorister, and their voices can still be heard singing today, according to legend, also home to the mermaid chair at the Church of Saint Senara)
* Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland (Where Li Ban lived and was eventually baptized, gaining an immortal soul)
* The Isle of Man (home to the Ben-Varrey)
* Namtao Island in China
* Sri Lanka (where Suvannamacha tries to prevent Hanuman from building a bridge)
* The Neo-Taino nations (home to the Aycayia)
* The Southern beach in Java (home to mermaid queen Nyi Roro Kidul)
* Wakasa Province in Japan (where a fisherman caught a ningyo and a girl who ate it's flesh became immortal)
* Hispaniola (where Columbus spotted three mermaids)
* Blackbeard's logbook supposedly described enchanted waters, which he recommended his crew avoid for fear of mermaids and mermen, which he claimed to have seen... however, I'm not sure where one could find a copy of this logbook to figure out which ones these were.
* Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. (mermaid sightings between 1870 and 1890, and 1967)
* Kei Islands (in 1943, a Japanese soldiers reported seeing a number of creatures resembling merfolk (Orang Ikan in Malay) here. One Sgt. was convinced when a body was caught in nets and brought to him to examine, but scientists back in Japan apparently refused to believe him)
*Kirat Yam in Israel, where a 2009 sighting of a mermaid prompted the government to offer million dollar reward for proof
*Nova Olinda in Brazil, home of the Iara
* Gokwe and Mutare in Zimbabwe
* Warsaw (whose coat of arms features a mermaid)
* Norfolk Virginia (symbol is a mermaid)
* Long Beach, where the Jersey Devil was spotted serenading a mermaid in 1870
I'd even consider movie locations, like some from Splash, a possibility