Just to throw my 2 cents in... Silicone can be maneuvered just as gracefully and beautifully as the fabric ones. But, I think that with a combination of having to change in and out of tails during the show and traveling though tunnels as their way to get into the spring, silicone tails would just not be the best choice for them.
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None of the professional mermaids really do. I used to live in Vegas and the Silverton mermaids don't. I now live in Florida and noticed that Medusirena the firbreather and her group of mermaids dont. The weeki mermaids don't either. Almost all of the professional mermaids that are solo (or only 1-3 mers in the group) swim in silicone/latex tails while the other larger groups or more known of mermaids don't. It's because of the volume of mermaids. The Silverton Hotel doesn't want to pay over 12-15,000 dollars for tails for their group of mermaids. I highly doubt weeki does either. And I think it has a lot to do about all of them looking uniform. Why spend the 12,000 and up making 5-6 or more silicone tails that all look the same? I feel like that'd be fucking pointless and a waste of product. I feel like the tails that can take up to months to make would be better off all being individual. It'd be such a waste to have to spend so many hours of your time making the same exact thing over and over.... Most tail-makers who make those sorts of tails do it because they love making something unique and different every time.Originally Posted by Aradia
The mermaids have to be on scuba/compressed air due to the airlock, they are also running with hardly any air. When they are using their lungs as buoyancy compensators, they don't need much air in them to remain neutrally buoyant, with less stored oxygen they need to breathe more often than a freediver would. But a freediver would have to remain on the surface for a minimum of what their dive time was to prevent shallow water blackout. So if they did it freediving, a 3 minute dive would mean a 3 minute minimum surface interval before their next dive.
What they do is incredible and a lot of hard work. And that's only seeing it all from pictures and reading about it, seeing them perform live must be amazing! Thanks for sharing pictures. Next year I may be going to Florida for my birthday, so I may get the chance to go and see them
Dana mermaid and Doreen both mostly use fabric/neoprene based tails
Hi, Mermaid star is it? We have another user here that's called Mermaid Star, but you're not the same person clearly. I see you've made 3 posts already but haven't introduced yourself. I see you keep referring to yourself as "we" so I'm wondering who "we" is. I'm assuming you're selling something because of your other post about racks?
Anyway, back to the debate between fabric vs realistic,
Hannah, Kariel, Weeki Wachi, Dana mermaid, Doreen Virtue, Mermaid Kat, and many others use FABIC. And they make it work. I have swam in fabric, latex, and real silicone. If you haven't tried them all I don't think it's fair to say you can do the same in some that you can do in others, because really you can't- that's the whole purpose of trying others. I am a million times better in my silicone than I every was in my latex that was too buoyant. I am much better at turning in a fabric tail and bending and being flexible than I ever will be in a silicone.
The point is, and the reason I made the thread to begin with - the Weeki Wachi girls deserve a lot more credit than people give them.
I also see that for some reason my photos no longer show up, so here they are again!
I just can't believe that two of the Wichee Watchee mermaids are from Michigan! That blows my mind. especially since one's home town is like 10 min from mine. How did they get so lucky? lol
They have some realistic looking tails now. I've seen them. They look cool
Hugs, fishes, and mermaid kisses!
I used to go to Weeki Wachee every summer on vacation when I was younger- it's what got me hooked on mermaids. I'm pretty sure part of the reason they still use fabric tails is also just the history behind them. WW is big on their whole backstory and how old they are, and I think they'd definitely lose some of that "trip back in time" appeal if they started using completely realistic tails. Plus, they perform so many shows for so long, I would think that lighter fabric tails would be a heck of a lot easier on them.
"The German Nix/Nixe/Nixie are types of river merman and mermaid who may lure men to drown,
like the Scandinavian type, akin to the Celtic Melusine and similar to the Greek Siren.
The German epic Nibelungenlied mentions the Nix in connection with the Danube, as early as 1180 to 1210."
Merkind have been around for a while.
Saving for three different tails -- am broke and in college.
C'est la vie.
also, they've almost went under budget wise dozens of times, super expensive place to run- cant afford super expensive tails
yeah, and I don't know if they get as many tourists anymore- which stinks since it's such a great place... and the waterslides are actually fun! (at least, in my opinion.)
"The German Nix/Nixe/Nixie are types of river merman and mermaid who may lure men to drown,
like the Scandinavian type, akin to the Celtic Melusine and similar to the Greek Siren.
The German epic Nibelungenlied mentions the Nix in connection with the Danube, as early as 1180 to 1210."
Merkind have been around for a while.
Saving for three different tails -- am broke and in college.
C'est la vie.
I'm thinking about trying to go for my birthday. =P
Quick question though--what monofins do they use?
when I was watching they looked like individual swim fins to me
Wow, really? Such a low budget...makes me feel sad.
yep, they have a low budget.
In fact, the place was about to be closed down for good, and then one former mermaid, one of the first performers there, bought the whole thing.
So, it's really run by enthusiasts only.
I read an article from someone who actually went there and got to perform with them for a day, and I do have a healthy respect for the work these girls do.
It is a LOT more difficult than it looks to breathe through the hoses and to stay down so long while always doing a nice choreography.
Considering how incredibly expensive the newer silicone tails are (I'm still saving up for one), I can really sympathize with them using cheaper versions which do the job just as well.
For me, underwater swimming skills and performance are way more important than a great looking make-believe tail.
O was so grateful I got to go to weeks wachi with my mom in 2007.
I loved everything about it!
It felt like I had gone back in time and watched the mermaids perform as they would have many years ago. I did not think about the hard times the park had been through, but the fact that I was able to visit and enjoy the shows, and swim in buccaneer bay
The stage area is very deep so I can't imagine them NOT using their air hoses. I loved it, and wanted to try using one lol
maybe someday
Here's a pic of me and mom at weeks wachi, I wish I had taken more of us!
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I saw that they had auditions lay weekend for new mermaids. I would love to try out one day but I have heard they don't get paid much. I wonder if that's true or not. I would think they'd be paid above min wage bcus their job takes extensive training and much experience and is dangerous
I've heard/read that training is extensive and pay is low (the show doesn't actually make that much money).
on the other hand...there are lots of exhausting, hard work jobs that are paid really bad.
and not a lot of jobs that are as fantabulous as being a mermaid
if you love it, you get paid for doing something you might do anyway (swim)!
@ Raina... Thank you for re-posting the pictures from your trip! They are a great example of costuming, swimming, layouts... parts of routines and mermen!
Training to be a Mermaid at Weeki Wachee, is quite extensive. For one thing you have to be SCUBA certified. Syncronized choreography is also taught if you don't know the ins and outs (I was on the Syncro swim team in Michigan before I did my tryout there). Breathing on the air hose takes time and patience and a good set of teeth and jaw muscles. The air is under compression, and you can adjust the valve for flow, but you still need to turn off the valve, or clench down on the hose tip, to exhale. Learning to swim up to 3 hours a day, in 74° F (23° C) degree water, synchronized routines, costume changes, on a hose, is not for the faint of heart (or body). And, you can easily become hypothermic.
One reason we used to wear full bathing suits and not just a bra, was it kept you a little bit warmer. Wearing tights inside the tails helped, too. Many costumes allowed us to wear layers, and leotard (dance) tops. We wore fabric tails (most of the tails are spandex, now, but there is a mix, fabric, some neoprene, and silicone is used on special occasion) and split fins due to quick costume changes. Peeling out of a silicone tail to get into another costume would take way too long. Sometimes we had less than a minute for a costume change. And at least when I swam there, fins were the only fluke "equipment" available. Fins were made by Voit, and cut to fit the fluke section of our tails.
The viewing area from inside the theater angles down, so the front row of seats are about 10 to 12 feet below the surface. I, and my MerSisters, performed most routines at minimum of 15 feet (it totally depends on the height of the river, and the rainwater that seeps into the Spring via aquifers). We were taught that there is no surface. An air hose was always closer than the surface. There are scads of hoses coiled or draped on the stage, for easy access. Only an extreme emergency would send you up to the surface for air.
Yep, the pay is still low. The State of Florida, Parks and Recreation, now owns Weeki Wachee proper (not the water rights). The Mers working there now are at the States' "mercy" for pay and benefits. My MerSisters, the ones I swam with, are now known as the Formers, and do a show monthly or sometimes twice a month, more often for special occasions, like our Reunion!
After skimming alot of posts in this thread, it would take me a tome to write responses to questions. But if I can, I will happily discuss any Mers' curiosity about swimming there, or its history... if I don't know, I will ask my MerSisters.
I would love all the Mers here to have a chance to swim in my "home waters". It's an experience you will never forget!
Bubble hearts!
Mermaid Marla
Once a Mermaid, always a mermaid!
Weeki Wachee Springs - 1969-1972
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