Description

This film shows a young woman training to perform as a mermaid at Weeki Wachee, a Florida water park founded by Newton Perry (1908–87) after World War II. After serving in the U.S. Navy during the war, where among other duties he trained military divers, champion swimmer Perry scouted out locations for a water park. He found a major spring in a largely unpopulated area 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Tampa, with remarkably clear water that flowed to the Gulf of Mexico 16 miles (26 kilometers) away ...