I became a Weeki Wachee mermaid at Sirens of the Deep camp, and you can too

WEEKI WACHEE — The water is cold, but I’m too nervous to shiver. Instead, I propel my arms forward and think graceful thoughts. Flashes of purple and blue tails from my siren sisters flicker nearby. The surface of the water ripples with sunlight above me, so far away.

I try to kick to safety, but my legs are bound. I‘m wearing the tail of a mermaid, but I’ve never felt more painfully human.

By the time I make it to the top, I’m gasping and sputtering. Rita King, my mentor at the Sirens of the Deep adult mermaid camp on this hot August weekend, slides me a floatation device.

“You OK?” asks Rita, one of the “Legendary Sirens of Weeki Wachee,” or mermaid performers from decades past. “Want to try it again?”

We’re swimming in a roped-off section of Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, one of t