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