Interview with a Professional Mermaid & Freediving Instructor
Hello everyone, and thanks for taking the time to visit the Aquanauts Freediving blog! This has been an extremely busy summer. The highlights have included being invited to be a commentator for the Vertical Blue 2021 freediving competition in the Bahamas and competing for the title of Miss Mermaid USA. In my spare time, I've been training freediving, exploring alpine lakes on one breath, and fitting freediving courses in where I can. I'll be posting more about this within the next month, but in the mean time, feel free to check out a recent interview with Ray Ko of The Total Beginner Freedive Podcast. I've included time stamps below, as well as the link to the YouTube video on his channel, Freedive Nomad. Feel free to comment below if you have any questions or want to learn more!
Photo credit: Martin Hernandez
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
02:46 How Rachel got into freediving
04:40 Vertical Blue and Dean's Blue Hole in Bahamas
07:56 How she became a Vertical Blue freediving competition commentator
09:33 Best day to watch Vertical Blue as a beginner
11:09 Logistics of getting on the commentator booth
12:29 Which dives were her favorite at Vertical Blue
13:45 Molchanovs Silicone Core Fins
16:24 Do freediving competitors party hard?
17:00 Deep Week
19:18 Ocean conservation projects: breef.org & Claire Paris
23:47 MerMagic Con mermaid convention
25:30 Camaraderie in mermaiding and freediving communities
27:19 Rachel's mermaid tail collection
28:45 What do you need to become a mermaid?
32:05 Components of a Miss Mermaid USA pageant and who won
37:08 One rule for all mermaids to follow
38:29 What does a mermaid course look like
42:18 Jobs you can do as a mermaid
44:00 Where would she recommend a friend to go to learn freediving
46:15 Her next freediving destination