Our excellent adventure: Mermaids???

While on coast, by Palm Harbor, wanted to drop in to Wikee Wachee springs, it is the deepest naturally formed spring in the U.S. In 1946 it was purchased privately and the mermaid show was started by the owner, it was subsequently sold to ABC and they built a theater back in 1959 I had read about this before and it was in disrepair for quite a while. The animals that they had originally were no longer fed and left the area. The owner passed away, ABC was no longer interested and it became a state park in 2008. They are now rebuilding the park, with volunteers, there is a small beach and water slides and of course the mermaids.

The girls are trained to breath off air hoses and requires SCUBA certification, first aid, CPR, several months of training, as well as being 18 years of age. The air tubes were invented by a "frog man" now known as Navy Seals back in the 40's. They are in the water and the Mermaid's have access any time they need it - for movement up and down as well of course for breathing. it is actually more difficult to use these than the regulard scuba gear. I asked one how she came to be a Mermaid and she said that here mother was one so, she wanted to be one too! These Mermaids need to be able to dive 100 feet down into the spring area and b e able to hold their breath for at least a minute or more - the day we were there, it was around 2 mintues- I tried, but no way!

For $13.00 each, you get into the park, get to see three “Mermaid” shows and they also have an animal show. They day we were there they had several snakes, two turtles and Ali – did not take snake pictures so as not to alarm some of my friends (D) but did take a picture of Ali. They also have some peacocks running around and several refreshment areas. There is a small boat that goes 10 minutes up and then 10 minutes back along the waterway. One side is the spring and cannot go any further, the other is very shallow but does head 9 miles out to the Gulf. They have kayaks to rent or you can take your own.