Certified mermaid instructor Caitlin Ahlers has just kicked off a new business teaching youngsters and adults how to swim like mermaids. Photo / Tania Whyte
Certified mermaid instructor Caitlin Ahlers has just kicked off a new business teaching youngsters and adults how to swim like mermaids. Photo / Tania Whyte
When Northland student Caitlin Ahlers goes for a dip in the sea or the local pool in her mermaid tail, she’s used to making a splash with little girls who believe she’s the real deal.
The 21-year-old, who is so adept at “mermaiding” that she just started a new businesscalled Mermaid Cove NZ Limited*, recalls many occasions when parents and their children have asked to take her photo.
“I usually get heaps of people coming over taking pictures, and little people running over and asking, ‘Are you a real mermaid?’
“After the photos we did for this article, after the photographer left and I was about to leave, a little girl saw me and bolted over asking if I was a real mermaid.
“Her dad had been reading her The Little Mermaid while they were sitting on the beach.”
Ahlers, of Whangārei, was a competitive swimmer from the age of nine through to 17, and found the sport could be intense and stressful.
Obsessed with mermaids and being in the water, she found she enjoyed the “freedom and calm” of mermaid swimming and begged her parents for her first tail in 2012.
“My parents looked into it and found the Mahina tails [an Australian brand that sells mermaid-wear].
“I pretty much took it everywhere. I took it on vacations and, after I’d done training for the day with the swim squad, I’d put my tail on and swim for another two hours.
“It’s more low key and calming, and I want to invoke that in little kids or young people and adults.
“It’s quite empowering.”
Caitlin Ahlers is used to little girls approaching her on the beach thinking she’s a real mermaid. Photo / Tania Whyte
Ahlers is now a qualified mermaid swim instructor, having become certified with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (Padi).
She owns five tails of varying colour combinations, including purple and blue, blue and green, silver and purple, yellow, gold and green, and black and gold.
Because she’s undertaking a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Auckland and returning home to visit her parents regularly, her new business will be based around Whangārei, Kaiwaka and Auckland.
Budding mermaids will learn how to be comfortable in the water with a tail on, along with fluid dolphin kicks and generally “slowing things down and making things look graceful”.
The one-hour classes will also include 15 minutes of breathing techniques before getting in the water. Classes will be held at public pools or swimming pools at private residences.
Ahlers, who also worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor at the Whangārei Aquatic Centre for several years, said her greatest love has always been being in and around the water.
She hopes students will “find their own appreciation of the quiet and calming nature of the water while passing knowledge on the importance of protecting our seas and all its inhabitants”.
The sport is “huge” in the United States, Ahlers said, where mermaids can work professionally, being hired for birthday parties and events like aquarium swimming.
It’s also taking off in New Zealand.
“Mermaiding is very slow and methodical,” she said.
“The biggest thing I like about mermaiding is, you can make your mermaid look as individual as you want. Everyone has their own unique looks.”
For more information, contact Caitlin via email at mermaidcovenz@gmail.com or check out Mermaid Cove NZ on Facebook.
* This article in no way relates to Mermaid Cove Limited, which is an independent business owned and operated by Ms Deanna Clarkin. There is no association between Mermaid Cove Limited and Mermaid Cove NZ Limited
