A dive into mermaid camp

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Kaelyn Warden grew up near a lake in South Carolina. There, she spent a lot of her time swimming in scuba diver flippers. She dove into mermaiding on her 15th birthday, when she decided to buy herself a monofin: two flippers fused together to make one large fin that both feet slide into. 

“That was my first chance to actually swim in my full mermaid form and I loved it from the get-go. It was the easiest way for me to swim and I just never stopped,” she said.

Mermaids may not be real. But that hasn’t stopped people, like Warden, from turning it into a career.  Mermaiding isn’t just about fantasy. It’s about building real confidence and skills that carry over into other water sports.

Under the sea

After she became adept at swimming with her legs together, Warden began performing as a mermaid. 

“When I first started, I was just doing it for fun. I would show up to kids’ birthday parties as a mermaid every now and then. I did some pool interactions and a few little festivals,” she said.

She moved to Florida and found herself in the water more often. She further developed her underwater skills through becoming a scuba diving instructor and working in aquariums. 

“I was able to hone in on so many more underwater skills, like teaching scuba and becoming a really proficient free diver, that really launched me into a whole different side of the mermaiding industry.”

Warden said despite mermaids being part of movies and stories, mermaiding is a relatively new industry. As groups like the Professional Association of Diving Instructors and Scuba School International began creating safety regulations and standards for the industry, merfolk became eager to put their skills to the test. 

“With [safety standards] comes people like me that are really competitive and they want to play games underwater and challenge themselves underwater, but do it in a safe manner,” she said.

She competed in her first competition last year.

“You were allowed to sign up on-site and I did it just to see what it was like. And there were different games underwater, different challenges, it involved breath work and such too. I really liked it and I actually placed first there, not even knowing what I was getting myself into,” Warden said

She also placed first in a couple of challenges at the second-annual Merlympics – an international competition for merfolk – that took place in May. As a scuba diving instructor, she was most proud of her first place win in the rescue scenario.

“It was recovering a victim unconscious underwater, towing them back safely, and it was timed. I was most excited for that one as an instructor,” she said.

Underwater Camp

The mermaid industry has gotten so big that Warden was tapped to lead a mermaid camp at Blue Water Park in Pelham, Alabama.

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Family Dive Club holds scuba diving camps for swimmers every summer. While the younger swimmers are excited to emulate their favorite princess, the goal of the camp is to impart scuba diving skills for students too young to earn their scuba diving certification. Gracie Marble and her mother, who runs Family Dive Camp, came up with the idea.

“They’re pretty much learning how to be a great scuba diver before they know what it is,” Marble said. “We work with the mermaid tails so they work with that harder thing so it’s way easier when they start with the fins.”

Marble and her mother saw Warden on a Birmingham television station and decided to reach out.

Warden was happy to lead the camp, noting that a lot of the skills needed to be a great mermaid are required for scuba diving. 

“Being comfortable in the water, being efficient moving, having good kick strokes, keeping yourself aligned properly to move as quickly and efficiently without wearing yourself out,” she said.

And Marble’s excited to have been introduced to the world of competitive mermaiding. She hopes to keep following mermaid Kaelyn’s finsteps and continue diving deeper into the industry.

“Once I met Mermaid Kaelyn, it brought my interest to light more,” Marble said. “I think it’d be cool to be in the Merlympics.”