Be a mermaid at these schools!

Mermaids are pretty cool, while considered merely a legendary creature, they no doubt inspire many a young girl to aspire to be as graceful and elegant, but still with a swimming prowess more leveled up than Michael Phelps. Mermaid schools have been popping up around the world in recent years, promoting it as fun way to workout. This may seem pretty strange to anyone who can’t fathom the fun of swimming around in monotails, but with all those ab-focused workouts, even those disinterested with the mythical creature are getting tempted to jump on the bandwagon. 

Here’s a school where you don’t even have to swim to be a mermaid. Apart from the usual mermaid swimming lessons, the school also offers a 30-minute mermaid photo op, where customers will be shown a series of mermaid poses by an IMSIA (International Mermaid Swimming Instructors Association)-trained Mermaid Swimming Instructor. Started in 2012 in Boracay, it has now expanded to several locations, Manila, Cebu and Anilao, Batangas.

You can definitely learn how to be a siren of the sea at this school founded by the country’s first mermaid performer, Syrena. Opened in 2015, the venues are separated into two: Bukit Timah (adult venues) and Dempsey area (child venue). Syrena aims to create Singapore’s First Mermaid Pod, described on its website as “a gathering of likeminded, kindred individuals who can learn and play safely under the watchful guidance of a caring and experienced professional.”

Part of the services provided by Dolphinlee Aquatic Sdn Bhd, established in 2011 by the swim school’s founder and managing director Dolphin Lee Boon Leong.  Its Facebook page states that it is the first and only qualified mermaid team and mermaid school in the country. The mermaids, who are certified in freediving (AIDA International) and scuba diving, also do aquarium shows, land mermaid mingle events, land and underwater modelling as well as marine conservation projects.

Not a mermaid school, per se, but it still offers young women and girls alike the chance to become a mermaid for a day. Both the Bali and Gili Trawangan branches offer three types of packages: Discover Mermaiding, Mermaid Photo shoot and Mermaid Party. The last of the three packages is a home visit, in a way, whereby the professional mermaid instructors will come to the customers, wherever their location, be it at home or hotel.

Founded in August 2012 by former Miss Germany International 2006, Katrin Felton aka Kat (pictured), who moved to Phuket with her husband to realise her mermaid dream. This was touted as the world’s first mermaid school. Kat has since taught mermaid workshops in other countries such as Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Maldives and Egypt.