Sunday, September 27, 2009

Living, Breathing Mermaids!


I heard reports that there were some mermaids sighted nearby. Tampa to be exact. So I got up early this morning and headed north to check things out. Sure enough, I found some. The Weeki Wachee mermaids were making a special appearance at the Florida Aquarium, and I was there with my trusty camera to capture it all. 45 minutes before they were to start the show, it was already standing room only. By the time the show started, it was squeezing room only. But it was a pretty cool show. Who wouldn't appreciate hot 20-something ladies in tails swimming around with turtles?

The green mermaid appeared to have a slight Christ complex. Or maybe I just caught her at an odd moment. From where I was standing, she was behind a seam in the plexiglas most of the time, so I didn't get too many good pictures of her.

But the blue mermaid was my favorite, and probably the better of the two. These ladies usually perform in fresh, not salt water, and buoyancy is a totally different game here. The blue mermaid had it down pat, though. She also stayed in the water an extra couple of minutes, to let everyone get up close to the glass and get some close-up pictures. After I snapped a few shots, I realized I was the only single male in the room without kids. Everyone else was little girls and families. Lots and lots of little girls.

One thing I didn't get were the dots around her eyes. What's up with that? Is it a mermaid thing? And I can't tell which mermaid this is. Danielle maybe? Hmmm...