Maui’s ‘Mermaid school’ is in session
Guests can unlock their inner mythical sea creature and learn about marine protection
WAILEA, MAUI—“Pick a tail, any tail you’d like,” says Lila Jones, pointing to an oversized bag filled with shiny, colourful mermaid tails lounging on the creamy, butterscotch sand of Makena beach.
I feel like I’ve stepped up to a beachbased game booth where my prize is my being transformed into a sea goddess. I choose the aqua blue baby and shimmy into the snugly fitting, uh, mermaid tail.
“Damn you delicious mai tais,” I think in a post-last-night moment of regret since the tight tail leaves nothing to the imagination. Jones, a marine biologist and our mermaid instructor, tells the other mermaidsin - training in my group to fasten the Velcro strap inside the tail around our feet and then it’s off to where we belong — the water.
“It’s going to be weird at first since you’re used to using both legs,” she says. “You’ll have to think like a mermaid, use your whole body to move.”
Yes, right, of course! Think like a mermaid. Lesson No. 1 in Mermaid School: Think like a mermaid; Lesson No. 2: Move like a mermaid; Lesson No. 3: Try not to fall immediately after fusing your legs together; Lesson No. 4: Everybody falls sometime.
Since I’ve spent most of my landlocked life not necessarily thinking like a mermaid, thinking with sea legs isn’t necessarily intuitive. So I try to channel my inner Ariel. I lay on a rock in an attempt to become one with my uni-leg. “Come to the sand and wiggle around,” Jones says.
Sure, no prob, I got this, I think. Operative word being think. I worm my way off the rock onto the sand and ungracefully perfect the crab crawl as I wriggle backwards toward the ocean. It quickly becomes rather fun to embody another being.
“Move slowly into the water because it’s a different feeling with a mermaid tail,” Jones says. “When you kick, make a nice swiggle with your body. Relax your feet for an easy up-and-down motion.”
“Like doing the worm?” I proudly ask, showing my age to the others with my ’80s breakdance-move reference. “Yes, like the worm,” Jones replies. And with that, I slither into the Pacific Ocean. The warm water washes over me, as does a smile.
If spirit animals do exist, dolphins and I are one. I’ve always been a water girl, drawn to the beauty, serenity and power of oceans. But I hadn’t given much thought to mermaids.
In high school, classmates sometimes called me Pocahontas or Jasmine in reference to the Disney movie characters, presumably because I was one of just a handful of South Asian kids at school and that was their level of creativeness. But never Ariel à la The Little Mermaid.
Yet, here I am, trading my land legs for sea legs. I never considered the possibility of “becoming a mermaid” until I discovered that possibility existed after someone let me in on this secret underwater world in Maui.
Jones started Hawaii Mermaid Ad- ventures with Hawaiian Paddle Sports. She says her goal has been to teach others mermaid folklore, but more importantly, about marine protection, while having fun. She doesn’t disappoint.
Jones, who collects garbage on the beach and in the ocean before and during the tour, explains the importance of preventing plastic products from entering bodies of water.
She also stresses using sunscreen containing zinc oxide instead of oxybenzone, a chemical inhibitor that blocks coral from accessing sunlight when it seeps into the water.
We learn Hawaii has recently been designated one of the largest marine protected areas in the world. Huzzah! That makes this pseudo-mermaid happy. With that knowledge, we splash around some more. It’s tricky at first. I attempt to swim to a raft Jones has stabilized in the ocean, where she teaches us mono-tail swimming skills.
She takes us to underwater hula hoops and we swim through them before we start snorkelling to meet our fellow sea friends.
Interacting with the underwater world as a sea creature is magically fun. I do feel as if I’ve got everything as I glance toward Maui’s gorgeous palm-tree-lined coast, the sun beating down on my saltwater-washed face.
Ariel, meet your replacement. Charmaine Noronha was hosted by Residence Inn Maui Wailea and its partners, which did not review or approve this story.