Mermaids Past and Present Keep Things Real

ARIPEKA, Fla.

Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Melissa Lyttle for The New York Times

CIRCLE OF FRIENDS Denise McGrath, left, Abigale Anderson, Karri Holliday and Virginia Connolly spotted on land.

ON a sunny December afternoon, Karri Holliday was sitting on the dock of her parents’ home on a tiny island here along Florida’s Gulf Coast, about 50 miles northwest of Tampa. She wore a strand of pink fake pearls, sparkly face stickers and purple eye shadow — remnants of the costume she wore earlier while entertaining children at a birthday party.

That was a freelance gig; her main job is appearing at Weeki Wachee Springs, a beloved tourist attraction in a nearby town, where she performs as a mermaid, swimming underwater in a 15-pound glittery tail alongside manatees, turtles and fish in a freshwater stream. At Weeki Wachee, she usually plays the role of the heroine Ariel in a production of “The Little Mermaid,” which was inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen tale.

“I tell them, ‘Ariel is our sister and she works at Disney and is really famous,’” Ms. Holliday said, explaining how she responds to the young admirers who ask if she has ever met Ariel, the mermaid who longed to be human.

Ariel the fable is coming to Broadway this Thursday, the official opening of Disney’s musical version of “The Little Mermaid.” But spending time with Ms. Holliday offers a peek at what life is like for a so-called real mermaid.

“We’re girls who take to water better than the land,” said Ms. Holliday, 23, referring to her clan of, as she calls them, mer-sisters, a group of about 10 past or present park mermaids who have knit themselves a distinct social scene. The daughter of a crab claw fisherman, Ms. Holliday grew up cuddling baby alligators and wearing live salamanders as earrings. “Some people are born with the urge to be in the water, where life is calmer,” she said. “I’m most comfortable there.”

She’s always felt a special connection to the water. “I remember being 8 or something and going to the bottom of the pool,” Ms. Holliday said. “I remember being able to control my body, laying down on the bottom of the pool, looking up at kicking legs on top of the swimming pool and holding my breath. A lot of us had the same feeling.”

Weeki Wachee mermaids tend to be in their early 20s and work there for a few years. They often go on to become waitresses, police officers, nurses or full-time mothers and wives — most sticking close to the park and maintaining a mermaid lifestyle.

“Karri’s always wanted to be a mermaid,” said her father, Ronald Holliday, whose hands feel like sandpaper from years as a fisherman. “I want her to be successful but I don’t see a lot of future in it as a career. Maybe when she gets a little farther along, she’ll go to college.”

On a recent Monday, Ms. Holliday was having lunch at Jade Fire, a sushi restaurant in a stucco temple on the highway, with three mermaids she met at Weeki Wachee, though none still work at the park. The restaurant owners recognized them and sent over a sushi roll and a banana tempura dessert, which the women accompanied with rounds of sake bombs.

“We drink like fishes,” Ms. Holliday deadpanned, as though describing a social set spawned from someplace other than mythology. Denise McGrath, 23, an aspiring dive master, and Virginia Connolly, 21, a reed-thin former lifeguard, watched the clock so they wouldn’t be late for their shifts at a nearby barbecue restaurant. Abigale Anderson, 27, excused herself a few times to answer phone calls from her job with a sinkhole company. All four women wore enough makeup to look appropriate on a stage — or rather, an underwater perch.

“I dressed up today,” Ms. Holliday said. She wore tight jeans, a plaid blazer and the pastel eye shadow that’s part of her permanent mermaid look. If she had been working at Weeki Wachee, she’d be sporting wet hair and wearing a sweatsuit while grabbing a salad at a nearby sandwich shop, where mermaids get a 15 percent discount.

Mermaid culture has been going strong in this part of Florida since the park opened 60 years ago, training young women to swim in an underwater theater and breathe compressed air through rubber hoses while performing cabaret numbers.

The performances, which now draw about 200,000 visitors a year, tend to appeal to the very old or the very young. Back in the park’s glory days in the 1960s, when it was owned and well-promoted by the ABC network, the mermaids got to warm up in a giant hot tub after shows.

1 2 Next Page »

More Topics:
Satellite Phones
Satellite Phone Store wants to be your source for cellular and satellite phone sales, service and rentals. We have something to fit your traveling and exploring needs.

Satellite phone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
... are issued with ordinary phone numbers, such as Globalstar satellite phones ... LEO telephones utilizes LEO (low Earth orbit) satellite technology. ...

Iridium Satellite
Provider of mobile satellite voice and data solutions with complete coverage of the Earth, including oceans, airways, and Polar regions.

SatPhoneStore
Offers global satellite phones and airtime for rent or purchase. ... Satellite phone rental packages starting from only .00/day! NEW NEW NEW ...

Satellite Phones and Cell Phone Accessories from Globalstar, Iridium ...
Find satellite phones and pagers, cell phone accessories, and phone service or rental. ... our satellite phone rental packages. NEW Globalstar 1700 phones have ...