A week ago as part of filming for my documentary, Venessa and I got to swim with manatees as mermaids. In order to do this we secure appropriate permits, applicable insurance, got permission from the coast guard, and were supervised by "manatee watch" volunteers the entire time to ensure compliance with endangered species laws Believe it or not, we were allowed and encouraged to touch the manatees IF they approached us! (also we had a chartered experienced captain)

We swam in the river for about 4 hours non-stop! We couldn't do the normal mermaid swimming because it would churn up the bottom making it too hard to see, and also we had to ensure we didn't bump into manatees and they were also tricky to see until they were right with you. They'd rise up from the bottom like ghosts.

The manatees were covered in algae and liked having their backs rubbed, and there were a few with scars from boats. There were also some remora fish stuck to some of them. There were loads and loads of them but about 15 of them interacted with us. one kept following us around haha.

They really liked my tail and would curiously nibble the streamers on my fluke (no damage!) and my hair haha.

A big seacow brought her baby over to see us.

One rose right under neath me, and another came right up to my face and sniffed it.

I can't show you ALL the content because we are saving it for the documentary, but here's a little unedited informal clip and some pics