State Park #5: Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, Spring Hill Florida - mermaids & water sports

Mermaid swimming, a cross between free diving and synchronized swimming, has become trendy.  Perhaps your child doesn't have aspirations to become one of the professional thousand mermaid and merman, but observing a show does inspire strengthening swimming skills.  Mermaids can descend on a single breath.  While wearing a tail that can weigh up to 35 pound, they make choreographed moves to music.  It's no easy task.  It can take nine months of training, using hula hoop diving exercises and more.  Mermaids must get scuba and CPR certified and prove timed 200 yard swim and 50 yard butterfly.

However, many of the recent shows or classes have adult locations or minimum age requirements: 
1) Silverton Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada with 4,000 fish
2) Sip'n Dip Lounge, Great Falls, Montana which added mermaids to their live piano bar entertainment
3) Dive Bar Sacramento, CA, featuring merman 4) Hotel del Coronado, CA, $25 class for adults includes 45 minutes of core and cardio fitness while wearing a tail. 
5) Whitney M Young Magnet Schools, Laflin St., Chicago, by Aquamermaid Chicago, $60

Here's my suggestion - go to the original, the Weiki Wachee show debuted synchronized mermaid ballet in October 1947 as a road side attraction.  Weeki Wachee Springs State Park became a state park in 2008 and park entrance fee includes the show.  The park offers limited seating in an auditorium below the surface of the water;  go early!  Long hoses placed throughout the ground provide air to mermaids and mermaids perform to multiple songs.  We laughed as a turtle tried to get into the act.

I enjoyed the park so much that when I returned to Fort Lauderdale, I made the trip north on the highway to visit again.  This time I allocated more time for the park and waited in line for the Wilderness River Cruise.  Your entrance fee also includes this boat trip down the river.  We watched below for manatees and above for birds.  A separate article covers the many places you can see manatees in Florida.  If I had more time, I'd rent a kayak at the park.  There's so many ways to enjoy the water at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.

Here's 3 other family friendly mermaid shows:
1) Downtown Aquarium, Denver Colorado, Mystic Mermaid Show, includes conservation messages, adults $20, children $14
2) Ripley's Aquarium Myrtle Beach, SC, mermaids swim along with sting rays and sharks on weekends, $23 adult, $17 child aquarium tickets; limited seating, go early!
2) Wreck Bar, Fort Lauderdale, FL, shipwreck scene and 30 min. show, featured in Analyze This movie, only two shows per week, go early!