The tales of the mythical mermaids came true on Saturday, February 6th in the Caye Caulker Village. Residents and visitors got to meet some mermaids, and for a donation towards Ocean Academy, they had their photo taken with a mermaid by a professional photographer. The mermaids are here in Belize as part of Sirenalia’s Tropical Retreat. Sirenalia is a mermaid production company based in Austin, Texas USA, which specializes in creating customizable and realistic silicone mermaid tails and accessories.
Sirenalia’s Tropical Retreat offered participants an all-inclusive five-day trip where they could live out their dreams of being mermaids or mermen. The trip included underwater photography at the Belize Barrier Reef, mermaid-themed yoga classes and several nighttime mermaid events. “Our company has been visiting Caye Caulker for several years now, I love the thought of swimming the Barrier Reef with other mermaids and merman performers,” said Maria Russo, owner of Sirenalia. Participants were also offered the chance to visit with the local school and assist in raising funds.
A total of $356.25BZ was raised for Ocean Academy during the mermaid meet and photo-op held at the Caye Caulker Split from 4PM. Both children and adults alike were excited to meet the mermaids. “Our fundraiser at The Split for the Caye Caulker Ocean Academy has definitely been one of the highlights of our Belize Mermaid Retreat! Thank you to everyone who came out and donated! We hope you love the photos as much as we do,” said Russo. “One of the most important missions of Sirenalia is to help both children and the environment in any way we can.”
In keeping with the mermaid theme, Ocean Academy also hosted a movie night on Monday, February 8th where they showed The Little Mermaid and Splash movies at Caye Caulker’s outdoor movie theatre. All proceeds collected from ticket sales support Ocean Academy’s extra-curricular activities.
Sirenalia’s Tropical Retreated lasted from Thursday, February 4th to Tuesday, February 9th. To learn more on the company visit www.sirenalia.com. Ocean Academy would like to extend a big thank you to the staff of Lazy Lizard, the mermaids of Sirenalia.com and photographers of flashpoolproductions.com.
