Professional Mermaid Sara Ferguson on Teaching in Tail
Tags: Mermaids, Oceans, Marine Science, Education, Careers

Professional Mermaid Sara Ferguson on Teaching in Tail Foundry10 Follow Jan 18 · 15 min read

Courtesy of Sara Ferguson

This interview with Mindful Mermaid Sara Ferguson is part of the foundry10 Ultimate Guide to Underwater Work. Whether you dream of swimming with sea turtles, operating underwater robots, or promoting ocean conservation as a professional mermaid, there is a career in marine science for you.

Describe an average day in the life of a professional mermaid. What do you look forward to the most?

I teach in a tail, up at one of our local hotels here in Maui, Hawaii. I lead mermaid classes and course certification, and teach classes on ocean conservation up there.

During a typical day, I get up at about 7am, head up to the hotel, set up a full range of tail racks with different sizes for all the different kids, and then when they check in, we do the paperwork. We do a little photo shoot for them, and then we start the basics of swimming in a tail in the pool. I like to play different games throughout the classes. We go through the names of different sea animals, and I tell them facts about each one, they pick a favorite and we just share stories.

I tell them what it’s like to swim as a mermaid in my tail with those creatures, whether that’s monk seals, dolphins, or turtles, and how those creatures interact with me when I’m swimming in my tail, because it’s a bit different than when you’re in fins. They are usually more accepting, and much more curious, trying to figure out what kind of creature you are, so we talk through that, and then I teach them how to do tricks and games.

We basically just enjoy the freedom of swimming like a mermaid in a tail, and then towards the end of the day when I’m done teaching classes, I check out with the hotel. Then, I usually have some sort of project that I’m working on, whether that’s making private stunt videos, or working on filming things for music videos, we also do different shoots for murals, and things out in the ocean. So, my job kind of has two parts: I interact with the public, and get them excited about loving the ocean, and teach them how to be a mermaid and certify them, but I also work out in the ocean swimming and interacting with the wildlife there.

What are some common misconceptions about your job/field?

I’d say that the most common misconception is that a professional mermaid is just someone who dresses up, puts on a tail and a crown, and looks pretty for photo shoots. There’s so much more behind it than that, and one of the key reasons why I chose it was that I’m able to excite people about helping the ocean. That’s a huge piece of the job for me that’s beyond a crown and a tail, really reaching people to make a difference for the ocean in the long run.

I have a lot of training and certification, it took me years to get to the place where I can lead classes safely. I need to be able to swim without a mask or goggles, and have trained my eyes to be able to navigate underwater. Normally, it’s extremely blurry for people, but I need to know the difference between coral and sea urchins, as I’m swimming over the bottom, I need to be able to read the turtles’ expressions, and understand if they feel I’m too close, or if I should back off so that I can most respectfully interact with them. Then also within this ability is the freediving aspect, being able to go down to depths around 80 feet, being able to hold my breath for over three minutes and 45 seconds to make the videos and images that excite people to connect to the ocean.

Was there a specific moment that you knew this was the career for you, or that led you down this career path? Can you describe that moment of initial interest or inspiration?

I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. I thought at first, it might be grade school because I enjoy the younger generation, and then I got into teaching scuba, and that was fabulous. Then I got into teaching freediving, then I got into teaching mermaiding, and I found that I could really make a solid connection.

I had a little girl who joined one of my classes at the hotel, she was four-years-old and she wanted to learn everything. We just took it one at a time, so we started with sharks — why sharks need our help and what sharks are really like in the ocean versus what sharks are like on TV. They have no interest in us, but you don’t really know that until you swim next to one, and understand that they’re more afraid of you than you should be of them. Then we talked about shark finning, and how many millions of sharks are killed each year, versus how many shark attacks happen each year and usually those attacks are by mistake, they think we’re a seal, it’s in murky water, they can’t really see as clearly and if they did, they would have no interest. We then went into dolphins and why dolphins want to try to race me in the tail, and the different games that dolphins have created to play with you when you’re in the sea, and they’re in the wild and happy. The class normally runs 30 minutes, but this little was with me for over two hours. Her parents were so trusting, and so kind, they were just like, “yeah, take her, she’s really enthralled, we haven’t seen her this way before, just give her some info”. So it was really exciting for me because I feel like she’ll go back after vacation and she’ll share what she’s learned with other kids, so that they will also get excited about the ocean. For me, that was so heartwarming like, “yeah, I can truly touch people this way and get them excited about the ocean,” and some people find it as fascinating as I do and I love that.

Describe your education, training and/or experience that prepared you for this career.

I was a Divemaster leading people out on dives in the sea and then I learned how to teach them how to scuba dive by becoming a SCUBA instructor. I did my master freediving and then I did my freediving instructor course. The Divemaster alone took about six months, and then teaching as an instructor took a couple of years. I also taught SNUBA, where the lines come off of the tank off of a raft up top, so people don’t have heavy gear. That way more kids can get into being underwater and feel what it’s like to SCUBAdive, but without the heavy gear. Then through the mermaid certification, I actually wrote the programs myself because I’m a part of PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors). So, I wrote the curriculum and the standards for my classes, and they approved it, created a medical for it, and a certification card process. Then I was allowed to teach my classes to the masses.

Then the other things, like getting to know the reef, and the animals and learning what that fishes’ life is like, what their personality is like in regards to others, how they spend their day, what type of food they’re going after. That took two years of diving on the same reef, I dove over 900 times on the same section of land that’s about a quarter of a mile underwater. Just got to know those corals, like the back of my hand, got to know when they bloom In accordance to the moon, and what time of year the sea algae would grow over and kind of strangle the corals, how long it took the corals to come back, how they reacted at the end of summer to all this really warm water over time, and the coral bleaching, to know if they were able to come back from that or not. Also understanding which fish left the reef when that happened, and then which fish came back and returned, some I no longer see there, which is really sad, but It’s all just a process of evolution to understand that change is the only constant, right. So I became really familiar, and intimate, I would say, with the reef and its creatures. That gave me the ability to really teach people, so this reef is right out front of the hotel that they’re staying at, and I could just tell them what was down there, and we could have amazing conversations about it. When I was teaching, I could draw off of things that I could actually show them the ocean, and that was really fun, so building a knowledge base that way.

How has the field changed in the past five years? What do you predict might happen in the next five to 10 years?

I would say that there’s a lot more people who are interested in becoming a professional mermaid now. Many of them are drawn to it for the allurement and the charm, like we talked about with the misconceptions earlier, so not a lot of them are as driven to teach and get people excited about ocean conservation as I am. It originally was one mermaid, about 10 years ago, who got very saddened when she saw the whales being slaughtered, especially the baby whales, and she was like, “I have to do something about this.” She tailed up, she went into the ocean, she made a music video where she swam with a baby whale, and people got really attached to the baby and were delighted to see it’s tricks and everything, and then she showed what it was like when particular groups came in to hunt those whales, and took that baby out of the ocean. It was something that was so new, and so heart-wrenching. It’s easier to show that connection as a mermaid than just someone out there with a snorkel and fins. In a tail you look more like you belong, and the creatures interact with you differently. So she inspired a lot of people 10 years ago with a new path to be able to help creatures that they love, and find this connection with the sea. Over the next five years, we’re probably going to see a lot more people doing my same job, or starting the training at least to get to the point where they can teach classes, and talk to people about the conservation aspects.

What have you learned about yourself and the world while working in your field?

That’s an amazing question, I like that one. By diving into the ocean and doing the freediving aspects. It’s just you down there. When you dive down you’re completely alone and cut away from all that happens on dry land. It’s just this quiet stillness in your mind and quiet stillness in your body. You get to know how your body changes how your mind deals with being uncomfortable, as you’re holding your breath because it gets more and more uncomfortable after the first minute. Really understanding how much I have within myself to get through things so on land, when I come up against uncomfortable situations, that quiet stillness is there for me to draw on. Yeah, so an inner strength came from it. I keep continually going back to connect to my love of the sea, that grows deeper the more I work as a mermaid, and I try to show people that and give them that same love that I have for the sea, so that we have a better chance of protecting the future.

What is the biggest risk that you’ve taken along your career path?

It felt risky the first time that I jumped in to swim with sharks. They drew them to the boat by visiting a place where sharks were known to be, not by baiting them. We pulled up and sharks started jumping out of the water. I was like, “wow, okay, we’re really going to go swim, and do research here, and try to understand these guys better.” That was huge for me to be brave, and take that next step past swimming with them in the ocean, to instead specifically see a group and really study them. Count their numbers, and report back to the base in Hawaii, and it was fantastic. As soon as I got in, they all lowered down because there’s a hierarchy underwater. Those who are higher up, have the power, those who are down below are lower on the totem pole, and therefore the first ones to get eaten, so if you stay on the top, and you hold your space, like this is my top of the totem pole. They don’t challenge you, like, “okay, you’re in, and now you’re the bigger creature, that’s cool.” They’re bigger than I am, but in holding that space confidently they’ll allow you to have that space. They were all on the surface and as soon as we got in the water they mellowed out, and moved down, and then they swam at the boat, and we got to dive down, and swim with them and understand them more, that was amazing.

I think the highest risk is when I’m working on stunt projects that are extremely deep, when I do that, I’m no longer freediving, I’m going off of a buddy scuba tank. I have to be so comfortable as I hold my breath, move away from them, to swim through the shipwreck, and take the video, and then they’re usually farther away from me than I can see. So I give them a signal that I’m ready for air, and then I need air, I have to fully trust that they’re going to get to me in time. I have to use that quiet stillness of not freaking out while I wait the next 15 seconds for them to get to me. I have to also not go up because when you’re scuba diving, you can’t hold your breath and rise, so I swim at the same level all the time, and then when it’s time for me to breathe, I’m waiting for them. If I swam up to the surface and headed back up to 110 feet from down, and up, then I could have lung overexpansion injuries, there can be a lot of different problems. So when I’m down doing projects like that, it’s an intense challenge for me and there is a lot of danger. I know I could have all these injuries, if I let my mind get the better of me and panic, but I don’t. I have the experience, and the videos end up being really wildly cool to have this mermaid swimming down in the depths, in these dark caverns of places.

What was your first win that made you confident that you were doing the right thing?

I was teaching a couple, and she was extremely nervous about going into the sea, like she could barely breathe through a snorkel, but she was going to go try diving and go do this ocean conservation thing. Really being able to hold space for her, and hold her hand, and tell her it’s okay, and share my love of the ocean the best that I could with her, so that she could start to see it as a magical place instead of someplace that was big and scary. Just to see her evolve through that class, and get more and more comfortable, and then by the time we were done she wanted to go right back in like she just had this amazing love for it, and that fear had been replaced, and that for me was like, “yeah okay I’m in the right job.”

What is your favorite marine science fact? And if you could be any marine animal, what would you be?

Oh my goodness that’s fun. I always love learning about sea horses and how they communicate through a series of clicks. They mate for life. They’re like true romantics, right, and they stay next to one another once they have found each other, for the rest of their lives. So, in the morning when they wake up, after sleeping on the seabed and being curled around the seagrasses on the bottom, they wake up and they look at the day around them, and they go for their first morning swim. But they do it together, they intertwine tails, and swim off into the blue together to go around, kind of like an old couple will walk through the park early in the morning together. They also shift to turn the same color as one another, so if one is woken up silver, the other one goes silver to match, and they swim together, and go out and around, and back. I thought that was really cute.

I think I’d be a whale, I’m very fascinated by them, and in understanding that they have the highest compassion receptors of any mammal, that their brain is so huge. They just have this amazing heart, I think it would be incredible to see the world the way that they do, like whales are always rescuing baby animals that are not their own species. Finding things that are having trouble in the ocean, and helping them breathe, helping them get back to where they need to be, protecting them from predators, and I find that fascinating. I think that if we could live with that type of compassion for not only the human race, but for other mammals and creatures, our world would be incredible.

What are some accomplishments that you are proud of that you tend to highlight on a resume or a cover letter?

The freediving aspect of hitting 100 feet down on the blue when I dive, and then, like I mentioned before, how long I can hold my breath. Those are personal achievements for me that I’m excited about, and then I’m continually working on being only in competition with myself, not others. Then highlighting other projects that I’ve been a part of like beach cleans, and projects here to help the reef. Then usually the links for the music videos because I find that fun, and I really love the projects and the challenges that they come up with. They say, “hey, can you shoot this? We’re looking for something from this angle, can you go down and do that?” It always keeps it fresh and new.

What are your favorite things to do in your free time, your hobbies and your interests?

I love to freedive, we go out every other day into the sea, looking for new creatures. This week it’s been Eagle Rays, and that’s just been incredible to see them where they come in closer to find a mate, and so they’re in more shallow water then usual, and they are calmer and stick around longer than they normally do. Normally they just fly by, but yeah, going freediving a lot, but I also paint and I’m a writer, I just finished my second novel.

Why should youth want to pursue this marine science career and why is it important right now?

As far as why it’s important, I believe that this generation of kids, of young people, that’s the generation that’s really going to be able to make change happen for the ocean. We’re at such a critical time right now, I really feel that they are the ones who will be able to save it. So any work that you can do to excite the next generation coming in, and to teach them to love the ocean is important because if they love it, they will want to protect it, and they’ve got to understand it first, so being able to give them the facts to really understand it deeper is essential. You can do that in many teaching degrees, and most of them involve lectures, but what I do is a lot more fun, and I get to work outside, and be in the water every day, and work with kids that way and teach them. So I feel that’s why I’ve chosen it, and why I think it’s important to do because people relate to the ocean through you, and mermaids are of the sea, so we make the perfect ambassador for ocean conservation.

What advice would you give to somebody starting out on this career path?

Self-study. Take your passion and run with it. If you see a fish out there in the ocean that you don’t recognize, go look it up, figure out where it belongs, what family it is in, and what it does. The more that you can access facts, and interesting information, the more that you can share that with others and get them excited about the ocean. Share what you love, and what you just learned about the sea. The oceans need more of that.

What do your classes typically focus on?

I am teaching classes about ocean conservation — the main threats our oceans and coral reefs are facing and teaching people about what they can do to help — like picking up litter, and not paying to see dolphins in captivity when they are so much happier in the wild, etc.

What is the best part about being a mermaid?

The best part is swimming in the oceans as a mermaid and the way that the sea life reacts to me. They think I am another big fish. Turtles stare and follow me trying to figure out what kind of creature I am. Dolphins love mermaid tails, they are extremely playful, and they ask me to race and schools of fish swim up to me and encircle me. For as long as I can hold my breath, I feel as though I connect to the ocean.

I feel this job is a successful way to help people fall in love with the ocean and want to protect it. Now, more than ever, with pollution, overfishing, shark finning and global warming, the oceans need our help. A mermaid is the perfect voice for that. I created the course outlines for Beginner and Advanced Mermaid classes and recommend those to anyone who would like to become a professional mermaid. Because you are reading this, I know you care about the ocean and are actively learning more about it, which is awesome, thank you. The ocean needs more people just like you, working to understand it, teach about it and ultimately protect it.

Check out the foundry10 Ultimate Guide to Underwater Work to learn about more careers in Marine Science.