Shortly after our holiday in Sitges, where I had met a real merman and was first introduced to mermaiding, I decided to take the plunge myself. In May 2023, I bought my very first mermaid tail.
I found one on bol.com, from the brand FinFun, sold by Zeemeerminshop. It was the only brand available on the platform at the time, and for a beginning merman like me, it was an accessible and affordable option. I didn’t need to place an expensive order at a foreign shop without knowing exactly what to look for. This tail was perfect to start with.
But a tail alone isn’t enough.
I didn’t have a place to swim yet. You can’t just take a mermaid tail into a public pool — most pools are hesitant. They worry about safety and hygiene, and for adults, it’s still very unfamiliar. Nowadays, FinFun tails are allowed in some places where children’s mermaiding lessons are offered, but for adults, there are hardly any options.
Luckily, June quickly turned warm and summery. So I decided to try out my tail in the Gaasperplas, at the clothing-optional recreation area.
Officially, it’s not a designated swimming spot — the signs say so clearly — but in summer (and even winter), people are always taking a dip. The beach often attracts an open and friendly crowd. That gave me the confidence to be myself, tail and all.
The regulars had even placed a small ladder — a simple step stool that slopes into the water, making it easy for less mobile people to get in and out. Near the shore it’s shallow, but further out — on the lake side — the water is crystal clear. You can see the fish swimming beneath you.
And for the first time, I swam with them as a merman. It was amazing!
On the far side of the meadow, which lies on a sort of peninsula, a wide canal flows out. I swam and dove between the water lilies. A somersault left welts on my back — apparently I scraped along the lily stems — but I felt like the White Snake from the Chinese legend The Legend of the White Snake (Bái Shé Zhuàn). In that story, a snake demon named Bai Suzhen wants to become human because she’s fallen in love with a mortal who once saved her life.
If a wooden house on stilts had stood in the water, my swimming could have been a scene from that very legend. The elegance and simplicity with which I moved through the water, and the twilight space between both human and not, fish and not…
A merman.
🎥 Want to see what that looked like? Here I am — swimming as a merman for the first time — between the water lilies in the Gaasperplas. Same tail, same day, same feeling of wonder.
That tail later came with me on travels. In the photo with this blog, you can see me a few weeks later on the rocks in Sitges — at the very spot where the adventure had begun the previous summer. As if the circle had briefly closed.