Mermaid Lanai

I met Mermaid Lanai on Twitter not long ago. After reading just her Twitter Bio, I came to the conclusion that she would make a great interview candidate. Instead of the usual question and answer format, Mermaid Lanai would just like to tell us about herself. As always, thank you for visiting!

Lanai: The ocean has always called to me so much, within my family there are relatives who work in the ocean, from a former whaler to a fisherman, to a manatee expert, an aquarist and of course me. The ocean and my family are bounded in some way, from former whaler, to fisherman etc., they all grew up by the ocean. Though my actual immediate family is more towards the city.

Mermaid Lanai

Ever since I was little I was drawn to cetaceans (whales & dolphins). Since the young age of three years old till now (30), my father exposed me to the ocean and traveling. He took me to different places and to see various animals. He would take me whale watching, and to see dolphins in both the wild and in shows and allow me to do many interaction programs. Something about dolphins and whales called to me and my father knew this. He would always go out of his way to take me to see them.

My "Moment", I guess you can say was being able to learn and interact with amazing dolphins and whales for 9 wonderful years. After leaving the aquarium- due to medical issues, I moved on to animal rescue. I've rescued many animals from birds to turtles and other marine life. All the experiences I've had I would never change for the world.

The passion for marine life is all thanks to my father. From the young age of three he exposed me to the ocean, aquariums and interaction programs. I did my first whale watch at age 10, first dive at 16 and from there my interest grew. Something about dolphins and whales called to me and my father knew this. At the age of 17, I began to volunteer as a docent at my local aquarium for a few years before moving deeper into the education department and becoming an educator.

Mermaid Lanai

Through my many years there I worked with a wonderful pair of bottlenose dolphins and some whales, and it was an incredible learning experience for me. On occasion we were allowed to interact with them, which was something that always stays with me. After many years working at the aquarium, due to medical issues I decided to let it go and heal. Only 7 months later during a visit to a friend’s rescue center was when I knew, where I was supposed to be. I’ve rescued many animals, from abused/unwanted parrots to various marine life.

The whole reason I got into mermaiding wasn’t because of The Little Mermaid or Splash, but because of my issue. After my major lung surgery, I currently have half a lung missing, which was the result of spontaneous pneumothorax. I took to swimming with fins, holding my breath and pushing myself to be “normal”. But from the fins came the monofin, then I found out about mermaiding, and it went from there.

Though I’m still a “new” mermaid to the lagoon, the educator in me is still there. I love to educate and entertain kids, So I decided to be a mermaid working to raise awareness for Cetaceans and Sharks. I would do that though teaching everyone to- Educate, Rescue & Conserve (Educate those of the hazards plaguing our oceans, Rescue those animals who are in need of our help and Conserve all the precious plants and animals who live within the blue waters.)

At the moment I am working to get a web page up, probably by late July. I'm also working on a Wordpress Blog to share my adventures as a mermaid with everyone.

Cynthia: Thank you very much, Lanai! If you have any questions for Mermaid Lanai, please let me know and I will post the answers in future articles. Be sure to visit Mermaid Lanai on Facebook as well as her blog.

Blog Index

I have recently created a Blog Index.  This will be the place to go when you can't remember where you read about something in this blog.  You can also browse the index for interesting topics to read.  The index will be updated as each new blog post is published.

Best wishes and starfishes,
-Mermaid Cynthia
cynthia (at) goldmermaid.com