Weeki Wachee Mermaids

Had a flashback to 1976 the other day. My parents and grandmother took my brother, sister and I around the world for close on six months. We skipped school so it was a pretty good time for all. The trip included a seven week stay in the USA, which I absolutely adored. We travelled cross country from the west coast to the east coast. I made a very good friend on that trip – Kathy from Wisconsin. We met in New York and we have since travelled together in the States and she has visited me here at in Australia on two occasions. 

1976 was the Bicentennial Year celebrating Independence Day and there were special events all over the country. One of my favourite stopovers was at Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida where we checked out the mermaid show. I've since caught sight of it I think (I haven't checked the credits) in movies such as The Right Stuff. Swimming mermaid style underwater with a tail and breathing tube is terribly difficult so you need to give these women a lot of credit. I'm a good swimmer as many Australians are so I should know. I wonder if retired synchronised swimming Olympians make their career here? I don't know if I'll ever be able to find out. Anyway, I thought you might want to see what I'm talking about. Check out these YouTube videos including the underwater musical adaption of A Little Mermaid, and check out older archival footage at the leech video website.