Come Swim With Me
Do you believe water fitness benefits your body, mind, and spirit? Then this website is for you! Whether you are a beginner, a graceful mermaid, a medal winner, or anywhere in-between . . . you'll learn about swimming, mermaids, and our ocean. Share our facts, fun, and tips with your friends. Check back often for our giveaways and special offers.
Find out more »
Swim Fitness
Learn why swimming and pool exercises are great whether you're fit or not. Watch some fun videos. Get tips on how to enjoy the whole experience especially the public pool. As long as you're moving, you'll burn more calories exercising in the water than on land. Remember to be safe in the water.
Find out more »
Mermaid Tails and Tales
Learn about the migration of mermaid tails and tales. The mermaid is the world's most universal folkloric character. See modern day mermaids around the world. Get tips on how to swim like a mermaid.
Find out more »
Our Ocean
It's one big ocean. Those drips off your bathing suit may have once touched what we call the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic Oceans. Water covers 75% of the planet and the ocean provides 99% of earth's living space. So why do we call our planet Earth?
Find out more »
Gear & More
Gear up for the water, support ocean conservation, and find other products to enhance your life. Read More
Latest Giveaway
When you take our 3 question survey or share your email contact below you're automatically entered into our latest giveaway. SURVEY | GIVEAWAY
Follow Us
Catch the Mertail Fitness Facebook Page posts HERE and LIKE us! Want to know more about mermaiding, swim fitness, or the ocean? Ask or comment at the Ask a Mermaid blog.
TIPS for the Public Pool
-
TIP #4
To enjoy yourself, leave your fear of others looking at you at the door (they are already worried about themselves). Be comfortable in your swimwear, knowing that you are doing something great for yourself.
-
TIP #3
To keep warm, squat down in the water to keep shoulders at or below the water surface (if you're cold from standing in water), especially if you're with kids. If the kids are cold, ask them to bob or keep moving.
-
TIP #2
To keep your belongings clean in your locker, put on your flip flops when you first get to the locker room and put your shoes on the bottom of the locker.
-
TIP #1
To keep your hair soft despite the chlorine, soak your hair as you shower prior to your swim, put a pearl size drop of conditioner in each hand and rub it into your hair, then put on your swim cap.
Mermaiding TIPS
-
TIP #3
Learn how to smile underwater from the original Weeki Wachee mermaids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkrQwWK8-AQ&feature=related
-
TIP #2
Learn how to make a mermaid bra from Firely Path:
-
TIP #1
To swim like a mermaid you must stretch your ankles. Ultimately you should be able to do this on a floor or poolside.
Ocean Tips
-
TIP #2
Protect the ocean, eat farmed fish. Healthiest farmed fishes for you and the planet are catfish, clams, mussels, oysters, bay scallops, rainbow trout, and tilapia according to the Seafood Watch provided free by the Monterey Aquarium. LINK -
TIP #1
If you're lucky enough to see a turtle in the ocean, be polite and avoid swimming above it. Spooking a turtle can cause it to dive deep but it needs to surface to catch another breath, just like you.
- Great Deals For You
- Mertail Fitness LLC Shop
- Swim Outlet Online Store
- Girls4Sport Swimwear Discount
- Lewis Kemper Photography
- Singer Vidia Wesenlund
- Artist Moria Peters
Great Deals For You
Gear up for the water, support ocean conservation, and find other products to enhance your life. Each company, individual, and organization linked here has a direct relationship with our website sponsor, Mertail Fitness, LLC.
Mertail Fitness LLC Shop
Mertail Fitness is about swim fitness at its funniest! New swim moves to develop your strength and endurance. Buy the fun Mertail Fitness logo on just about anything. Mertail Fitness is an innovative swim fitness business seeking volunteer on-line learners to introduce new lap lane strokes for body conditioning.
If you want to be part of the sea change, contact: mermaid@comeswimwithme.com.
Buy products here: www.cafepress.com/MertailFitness
Girls4Sport
By far the best swim suit choice for the active water gal! The long sleeve tops are ideal for sun protection.
Get a 15% discount at Girls4Sport.com just by using this coupon code: MERFIT-15. VISIT WEBSITE
Lewis Kemper Photography
Many of our ocean and swim shots are available on Lewis Kemper's website. VISIT WEBSITE.
Vidia Wesenlund
Lull yourself to a peaceful sleep with a $15 Night Music from Scandinavia CD. Hear it on our Youtube Mermaid Minute videos.
Mermaid Videos:
Ocean Mermaid Minute
Song for the Ocean
Moria Peters
Enjoy more art by our the artist who created the mermaids for our website.
From Our Facebook Page
Check out our Facebook Page. Here's the latest posts:
-
Mermaid Ekena
Our own Mermaid Ekena was the runner up prize winner for the Funniest Pool Photo Contest hosted on Facebook by Swim Outlet.
Enlarge -
Phelps as Merman
Michael Phelps in a merman tail photographed by Annie Lebowitz. To see the video with interviews on YouTube, click the link below.
Enlarge Watch on YouTube -
Ocean Mermaids
See our own Mermaid Ekena and her friend hop down to the ocean.
Enlarge Watch on YouTube -
Mermaid in Surf
For the original YouTube How To Make a Mermaid Tail video, Click the YouTube link below
Enlarge Watch on YouTube -
Ocean Mermaid
For a fun YouTube tutorial on sewing your own mermaid tail, Click the YouTube link below.
Enlarge Watch on YouTube -
Jelly nettle or mermaid?
Photograph by Paul Jimerson. Used by permission.
-
Beached Mermaid at Point Lobos
Photograph by Paul Jimerson. Used by permission.
-
Ankle Stretch in Water
The ankle stretch is a mermaid must. If it’s too much for you to do it on a hard surface, start by holding your ankles while floating in the water, and floating with some noodles.
Enlarge -
Ankle Stretch on Land
The ankle stretch is a mermaid must. If it’s too much for you to do it on a hard surface, start by holding your ankles while floating in the water, and floating with some noodles.
Enlarge -
Cephea sp incredible 83
This moon jellyfish is salad plate size (200mm). Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Clanculus atropurpureus
This little Clanculus atropurpureus is extremely common both lagoon and oceanside at the Kwajalein Atoll. It averages 8mm. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Crab red granules
The little crab with the tiny red bumps was around 20mm. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Cypraea chinensis with eggs
The cowry Cypraea chinensis, is a beautiful shell and was guarding its colorful egg mass (40mm). Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Fragum fragum
Fragum fragum (30mm) is a common bi-valve that is rarely seen alive much less with its short feeding tentacles extended during the day. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
C aureus
Conus aureus is an uncommon tented cone, (35mm). Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
P voltans black juvenile
The black volitans lionfish is a juvenile about 180mm long. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Thalassoma quinquevittatum
The fast swimming Thalassoma wrasse, commonly known as the 'psychedelic wrasse" (100mm) was a challenge to photograph as they rarely slow down enough to get a photo in focus. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Spirobranchus rainbow
Spirobranchus, know as Christmas tree worms, (25mm). Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Turbinaria sp
A large colony of stunning yellow-green Turbinaria coral. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Table coral S bouy
A table coral which measured 4 ft. across, precariously balanced on a thin stem and sure to topple over soon. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Paralepidonotus indicus
The P. indicus with its textured plates and tufts of bristles (30mm). Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Laetmonice cf. molucana
The Laetmonice was referred to as a "sea mouse". It is 30mm and covered with sand as well as bristles. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Leocrates sp 114
The red-orange Leocrates species worm (60mm). Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Drupa rubusidaeus
Drupa rubusidaeus (25mm) is a common shell and discovering it had such a beautiful green animal was quite a pleasant surprise. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge -
Leandrites sp
The Leandrites sp is a less common cleaner shrimp and measured about 15mm. They are mostly clear and the green in the abdomen are its eggs. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Enlarge
Swimming
Swimming in Pool
Song for the Ocean
Ocean Life
Ocean Life
Dolphin and Dog
Thala mirifica
Sea turtles have been around for over 100 million years.
All sea turtles are now endangered. To save the thousands of sea turtle hatchlings from certain death in the oil contaminated Gulf of Mexico waters, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in conjunction with nonprofit organizations, other government agencies, and private corporations has collected thousands of sea turtle eggs and transported them to Florida’s Atlantic coast. Sea turtle nests can contain as many as 100 eggs each. Hatchling releases started in July. Since sea turtles sexually mature at about 25 years, it will take at least that long to know if this effort will succeed in returning these sea turtles to the Gulf of Mexico.
Tunicates
This small colony of tunicates (20mm) that had taken up residence on a clump of algae. Tunicates have the distinction of starting out in a free swimming stage with a “notochord” which is related to a backbone but once they settle to the bottom (under rocks and on algae for example) they become sessile filter feeders, never to move again. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
The Ocean and You are Alike
Waiting to be born, you floated in the ocean-like amniotic fluid of your mother's uterus. Your blood plasma composition is similar to ocean water. At the turn of the 20th century, several people were revived from near-death using sea water. (research by René Quinton, published 1904).
The world's largest animals rely on the world's smallest creatures for food, and they are all in the ocean.
The blue whale is the largest animal ever to live on this planet (yes, bigger than any dinosaur). Phytoplankton (plant plankton) is the smallest creature, you can't see individual phytoplankton without a microscope. Whales eat plankton, LOTS of plankton.
Kogomea Ovata
Kogomea Ovata (3-4mm) is a tiny shell species that feeds on sleeping fish. You may see over a dozen of them on a single fish at night. Photo by Jeanette Jonhson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Philinopsis Pilsbryl
Philinopsis pilsbryi is related to nudibranchs and variable in color. They live in sand and are responsible for laying some of the egg bubbles often seen attached to sandy surfaces. Photo by Jeanette Johnson, www.underwaterkwaj.com
Native Swimmers
Hidasta Tribal members pictured swimming, with a description of the crawl stroke in wild rivers while the “civilized” relied solely on the breast stroke. Painted by George Catlin in 1832, Hidatsa village on the Knife River with summer earth lodges on the bank above the Knife River. Quoted from his Letter 13 first published in London in 1844:
“The mode of swimming amongst the Mandans, as well as amongst most of the other tribes, is quite different from that practiced in those parts of the civilized world, which I have had the pleasure yet to visit. The Indian, instead of parting his hands simultaneously under the chin, and making the stroke outward, in a horizontal direction, causing thereby a serious strain upon the chest, throws his body alternately upon the left and the right side, raising one arm entirely above the water and reaching as far forward as he can, to dip it, whilst his whole weight and force are spent upon the one that is passing under him, and like a paddle propelling him along; whilst this arm is making a half circle, and is being raised out of the water behind him, the opposite arm is describing a similar arch in the air over his head, to be dipped in the water as far as he can reach before him, with the hand turned under, forming a sort of bucket, to act most effectively as it passes in its torn underneath him.
By this bold and powerful mode of swimming, which may want the grace that many would wish to see, I am quite sure, from the experience I have had, that much of the fatigue and strain upon the breast and spine are avoided, and that a man will preserve his strength and his breath much longer in this alternate and rolling motion, than he can in the usual mode of swimming, in the polished world.”
Jack LaLanne
Jack LaLanne, the fitness guru of the era of black and white television, swam a half hour almost daily (he passed away in 2011 at age 96 ! As a child this man was addicted to sugar and junk food. A lecture on nutrition turned him around. When he was 40 he swam the entire length of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge underwater laden with 140 pounds of equipment (including air tanks). The following year he swam the then "inescapable" waters of Alcatraz into Aquatic Park in San Francisco handcuffed! Two years after that, he outdid himself by swimming the Golden Gate channel with a 2,500-pound cabin cruiser in tow. The currents were so swift he swam over six miles to cover the one mile distance. Then at age 60 he again swam from Alcatraz into Aquatic Park, hands cuffed, feet shackled and pulling a 1000 pound boat wearing nothing but a Speedo. This, he considers his greatest feat. At age 61 he repeated swimming the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, underwater, this time handcuffed and shackled and towing a half ton boat. For his 95th birthday he released the book, Live Young Forever. See jacklalanne.com
Lighten Up in Water
When you enter a pool, the pressure and resistance of the water displaces your body weight 75% - 90% depending how deep you go.
Burn More Calories
Pressure and resistance of water causes your body to burn more calories; 30 minutes of water activity is about equivalent to 45 minutes of the same activity on land - so start water walking now!
Christopher Columbus wrote of mermaid sightings in his diary.
The day before, when the Admiral was going to the Rio del Oro, he said he saw three mermaids who came quite high out of the water but were not as pretty as they are depicted, for somehow in the face they look like men. He said that he saw some in Guinea on the coast of Manegueta.
— From the Diary of Christopher Columbus, January 9, 1493
Merfolk are in the Nuremburg Bible.
A mermaid, merman, and merdog are pictured swimming by Noah's ark in the Nuremburg Bible of 1483. You can see it for yourself at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
The Little Mermaid was adapted for a symphony orchestra long before Broadway.
Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale The Little Mermaid was adapted by Alexander Zemlinsky, an Austrian composer, in 1903 as a large-scale symphonic poem titled Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid). It premiered in Vienna in 1905 to poor reviews and Zemlinsky withdrew the score. Nonetheless, it was one of two movements he took to New York City when escaped Europe in during World War Two. It has been performed in the U.S. since 1984. The Mermaid opens with a musical depiction of the first lines of Andersen's tale: "Far out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as the prettiest cornflower, and as clear as crystal, it is very, very deep; so deep, indeed, that no cable could fathom it. Many church steeples, piled one upon another, would not reach from the ground beneath to the surface of the water above. There dwell the Mer-king and his subjects." You can buy an MPG version of the symphonic poem (in three parts, just over 40 minutes total) at www.classicalarchives.com/album/747313024970.html. And here's Another Link
Take Our Quick Survey
Contact information
Tell us your swim tips, about your mermaid frolicking, or your ocean experience to share with others.
Ask us questions, give us feedback, send us photos.
We respect your privacy and will not sell or share your personal information.
- Phone: +1 (619) 6-MERFIT (619-663-7348)
- Email: mermaid@comeswimwithme.com
