I'm certified! Now what?

Moving forward as a PADI Certified Mermaid

Most people have some personal goals in mind when they start the PADI Mermaid Course and have an idea of what comes next. If not, that's okay!

• After certification, what can you do? Many mermaids come to me with dry land experience and they are seeking to improve their in-water skills and fluidity. Achieving a certification alone is not usually enough to be transformative for your fluidity and comfort in the water. You will need to practice your skills, plan choreography, and work out unique performance movements. The best place for this is Mermaid Practice! If you also want to practice on your own there are a few pools in the the Salt Lake City area that allow monofins and practice in a mermaid tail:

• Dive Utah, Holladay, Utah
• Cottonwood Heights Recreation Center, Cottonwood Heights, UT

If you are outside the Salt Lake Area, the best way to find open water sites is to connect with a PADI Dive shop in your area. Once you locate a shop, contact them to find local areas that allow mermaiding either in confined water(pools) or in open water locations. When I first started swimming as a mermaid in my area, I did just that. I located a PADI dive shop close to me and went in to discuss my goals. I met Dave at Dive Utah, and he was happy to help me move forward with my mermaid swims! He helped me coordinate with a Divemaster to act as a safety diver for each of my mermaid practices, since this was long before the PADI mermaid program was established and this was the best way to create a safe space for Mermaid practice. 

Recreation Centers
When you are visiting a recreation center to arrange a practice session, be sure to communicate what your goals for the session and what certifications you have. The center may or may not request to see your certification card. I have been turned away from many facilities because they simply ban monofins outright. I'm working to increase monofin acceptance in my area, but this is a work in progress in public pools. Be prepared with bifins to practice with in case your plans for monofin practice is not allowed. You can always make the best of a pool session! Use this list below to guide your conversation as you discuss your certification with recreation center staff:

As a PADI Mermaid, you are certified to:

• Coordinate with a buddy to practice safe breath-hold mermaid dives incorporating a variety of unique underwater performance moves. (We don't dive alone!)
• Perform as a mermaid buddy by: monitoring the mermaid diver and being prepared for any emergencies. Buddies can follow with a float, wearing bifin, and watch as the mermaid swims). Finally, buddies can be be prepared to rescue a mermaid diver in less that 30' of water.
• Execute safe breath-hold dives as a mermaid, perform quick exits from your tail and monofin, perform self rescue techniques as needed, communicate and coordinate as needed with the safety diver, and execute skills in situations similar to that which you were certified.
• Respect the local environment at all times. (natural or man-made)

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Not all mermaids are satisfied with local Mermaid Practice or pool training, so we have travel options for you! This coming summer, 2023, I will be attending MerWeek and completing photoshoots on land for attending mermaids. This is an amazing opportunity to build community with other mermaids from around the world, develop your skills in confined and open water, develop your photography and video portfolio, and experience a beautiful Caribbean environment in Cozumel, Mexico. This opportunity has been transformative for me in the past and I am excited to share it with all mermaids this summer! The incentives for early registration will extend through the end of 2022. 

What's your favorite place to practice you Mermaid skills? What's the most unexpected door that mermaiding has opened for you?

Safe mermaiding, 
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~Ani

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