Tamara takes the AIDA 1 Star

Hi! My name is Tamara. I am a Canadian scuba diver, aerialist and animal lover ...

...with a mild-to-moderate obsession with sharks ...

This summer I officially became an AIDA 1-star certified freediver! Yay! But how did this happen?!?

I was never particularly interested in becoming a freediver. Sure, I was aware of the sport, I had seen freedivers snorkelling and spearfishing in the ocean many times. But I personally have never had any desire to harm a fish and frankly I find snorkelling incredibly boring, so this sport was never something that appealed to me. As a scuba diver however, I have always been interested in expanding upon and improving my skills. I became interested in breath-hold techniques for exactly these reasons. Should I find myself out of air 100 feet below the ocean surface while scuba diving (hey, accidents do happen!), I wanted to have the knowledge and peace of mind to be able to take control of the situation and ascend to the surface safely. I wanted to learn how to improve my air consumption. 

So with dive safety motivations in mind, I reached out to some local freedivers while at home in Toronto to learn more about their sport and understand the basics of breath-hold diving. After a single training session in the pool, I walked away having learned three important things: 1) one must never freedive alone, 2) breathing is so totally over-rated, and 3) freediving is AWESOME. So much fun! I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did and I was eager to learn and experience more.

While vacationing in TCI this summer, I went in search of fellow freedivers in the hope of of finding a buddy to dive with at the very least, or possibly an instructor who could teach me more. I asked around and soon heard a rumour whispered on the streets that there was a woman in town who went by the name Bella the Mermaid who might be just the person I was looking for. And so I began a mission in search of a mermaid. Through equal parts luck, effort and aquatic instinct, I managed to track down Bella without much difficulty. She put me in touch with the lovely Josie Smith (pictured right)

.

Josie is funny, talented, brilliant and an all around amazing person. Oh and she also happens to be a professional mermaid and freedive instructor! How cool is that! I had not held high hopes of actually taking a certification course during my vacation since time was extremely limited and I had not planned anything in advance, but Josie worked with my schedule and we managed to meet up for a full day of training.

The morning session consisted of some theory and a session in the pool. Eric, another vacationer who was also interested in learning to freedive had offered up his vacation home for the first part of this course. Here we practiced static apnea in the pool and I held my breath for almost 2 minutes - destroying my previous record of 10 seconds

After an intense morning session, we decided to take a break for lunch. The three of us picked up some sandwiches and headed back to Josie’s house where she had to make a quick pitstop to check in on the litter of puppies she was fostering for Potcake Place, a local animal shelter. PUPPIES!!! Friends, let’s just pause to reflect at this point. It is only noon and the day already consists of Turks and Caicos, freediving, lunch, AND puppies! How can this day possibly get any better? I sat down and played with the entire litter of squishy little snugglemuffins for a while, ending up at the bottom of a mountain of puppies, little paws and noses and puppykisses all over my face

After lunch, Josie explained that she had to slip away for a brief while to go to her other job and asked if Eric and I would like to come along. Um… did I mention that Josie’s other job is ‘Professional Mermaid’? Eric and I jumped at the chance! What a treat! We went down to the harbour and stealthily boarded the top of a semi-submarine while the guests got settled in their cabin under the surface, preparing for an underwater tour of the reef. During the tour, something magical happened. As they cruised through coral, fish and sea turtles swimming all around, a sparkly gold figure appeared in the distance. Bella! 

Graceful and beautiful, she swam up to and around the boat playfully and effortlessly, waving at the stunned passengers below. Captain Jack, the boat’s captain, was not impressed by the interference of that pesky mermaid during yet another one of his boat tours, and jumped overboard in an effort to try to catch that

slippery troublemaker once and for all!

It was a hilariously entertaining bit of live theatre and Eric and I had the best seats in the house that day, watching the entire story unfold from the surface of the boat. As a junior freediver, it was an invaluable opportunity to witness the skill, timing, talent, seamless transitions and teamwork involved in making a truly believable and memorable experience for the young audience members below. As a performer and acrobat, I became inspired. My motives have officially changed. Not only do I want to continue to learn to freedive for dive safety reasons, I now also want to incorporate my new-found passion into a theatrical performance somehow. My circus production clearly needs more mermaid! I feel that doubles trapeze and freediving are a natural fit, don’t you? Stay tuned friends, this show will happen…

Anyways, back to the story! A day filled with freediving, puppies, lunch, pirates and mermaids in paradise, and we are still far from done. After the show, we headed over to the beach to continue with our training. We swam out for a distance and practiced our rescue techniques and duck dives in 20+ feet of open water. So much fun! The local ocean inhabitants took note of our crew and came by to investigate; a sea turtle came over as we trained and a stingray cruised by underneath us, checking out the action from below. This was my first time freediving in the actual ocean and wow, words cannot capture how great this experience was. As a scuba diver, I am already enamored with all things aquatic, but in my scuba gear I am slow, bulky, releasing bubbles into my surroundings and generally not blending in well with the scenery and raising the suspicions of the local inhabitants. As a freediver I felt an incredible sense of peace and belonging. My movement was not restricted by bulky tanks and regulators. I was… free, and I was home.

Thank you Josie. Thank you Bella. This Aerial Mermaid will return to visit and train with you again in the future for sure! And friends, if you are even the slightest bit interested, or curious or intrigued by the idea of freediving - or if you have ever dreamed of growing up to become a glamourous mermaid - do it!!! Give it a shot! You absolutely can do this and at the very least you will walk away with memories that will last a lifetime. I mean sure, I could have lay by the pool, read a book and enjoyed a drink that day, but instead I became a certified freediver, swam with stingrays and turtles, stowed away on a boat with a pirate and a mermaid and made friends with 8 gorgeous rescue puppies all in a single day. Now *that* is a day well spent! And if I can do it, you can absolutely do it too. 

Thanks Josie, see you soon! xx

We also have a WEBSITE (www.flukesandflippers.com) as well as a FACEBOOK PAGE set up, and are currently thinking of what silliness can be got up to with the power of the instagram and the little bird twit.

How to arrange a Private Mermaid Encounter

As the name suggests, the Private Mermaid Encounter is an experience solely for your family.  It is quite simply a fabulous way to spend quality time with your kids, to create some incredible memories and take some fantastic photographs!

An encounter starts with a simple walk along one of Providenciales' pristine beaches, whereupon you literally stumble upon a Mermaid, playing in the shallows of the shoreline.  She might be surprised to see you, or a little shy that you've spotted her, but she LOVES little humans and she'll be curious and animated about spending time with you and your family.  Her tail is beautiful ... it's golden and orange and sometimes red and it catches the light as she swims around in the shallows.  You'll be invited to come swim with her so expect to get wet.

Your encounter can be as simple as sitting and chatting in the shallow calm waters of the shoreline (a heart to heart with a Mermaid is something unique in itself) or for the more confident, maybe a gentle swim out to either the corals / reef balls of the Bight Park, or the coral mounds of Smiths Reef where you can snorkel around the reef and hear Bella tell you the names of all her fishy friends.

Snorkeling with Bella is very weather and location specific, if you want to snorkel let us know and we'll advise your options.  Bear in mind this will take you into water that is too deep to stand up in, so the younger ones will need a higher level of comfort and confidence in the water.

Ocean encounters start on the beach, and whilst we aim to pick the most private beach locations possible, 100% privacy cannot be guaranteed as all our beaches are public.  It's unlikely to happen, but should a 3rd party stumble upon your encounter, Bella will acknowledge their presence (her Father, Triton, taught her to be polite and well mannered!) but she will do her very best to ensure your experience is not affected (or intruded upon) in any way.

Chances are you may want to arrange a professional photography company to capture the experience.  

Flukes & Flippers has worked with, and can highly recommend both Paradise Photography and Brilliant by Tropical Imaging

And of course, an Encounter can be held in your Villa Pool as well.  This is an alternative setting for younger / multiple children, or for those not yet able to swim, or for if the water conditions are not in our favour.  This is also a great option for children's parties or kids clubs.

Encounters are designed to run simply and smoothly and are usually around an hour.  However, the tides, ocean conditions, weather and location all need to be considered.  There are a lot of variables that you might not be aware of, so we ask you to have a relaxed, flexible and open approach to arranging an encounter.  You're dealing with a Mermaid here, you can demand nothing from the species, but she'll give all her heart and love willingly, if you get a bit too (how do we put this diplomatically?) too 'Diva' with a Mermaid they just make this terrible screeching sound and throw seaweed at you ... we found that out the hard way.  You have been warned!

Diva Drama's to one side, the great thing about Provo is that if one side of the island is a bit choppy, the other will usually be calm, and we know LOTS of cool spots, and Bella, being a big fish, will happily swim from one side to the other if it means she gets to meet little people!

If you want to arrange your own Encounter, you'll need to either call Josie  on +1 649 344 9915 or email her on info@flukesandflippers.com.

You can also visit the website www.flukesandflippers.com.

Best Fishes!

Josie & Bella
xx

The Semi-Submarine!

Coming to the TCI and thinking of stuff to do whilst you're here? Maybe you're already here and looking for something a bit different?  Well here's an idea for you .... try the Undersea Explorer.

The Semi-Sub as she's affectionately known, is the only one of its kind in the TCI.  It's 'belly' is also the passenger cabin and it sits 5ft beneath the surface of the water.  The belly has padded benches and air-con, so you sit in comfort and watch the underwater world cruising passed from your own viewing window.

"It's like snorkeling, but better, and you don't get wet!"

What's unique about this vessel is not just the 'birds eye' (fish eye?) view of the coral reef (called 'patch reefs') but there's a naturalist tour guide on board who leads you through the experience. You get hear all about what you're seeing.  The guide names the fish, tells you what's going on and how it all works and will point out the things you might not otherwise see.  The guide also has a walky-talky so is in constant contact with the Captain, you see something cool, if he can, he'll turn round and go see it again!

"Lightly educational as well as light hearted, but most importantly, it's fun"

There are 2 tours to choose from:

Turtle Reef Adventure
For all the family, travel around up to 7 different patch reefs.  See Parrot Fish, Blue Tang, Snappers, Grouper, Trumpet Fish, Squirrel Fish, Trunk Fish, Coney, Brain Coral, Finger Coral, Soft Coral, Sponges and TURTLES!
Yes we see Green Turtles (and the occasional Hawksbill) on our tours, between 5-20 individual specimens every time.  That's right ... you will get to see these beautiful endangered animals, in their natural habitat, displaying natural behaviours ... there is no other tour operator on island that can give you that.

Mermaid Adventure
This one's for the young and the young at heart - travel to a secret spot, blow the magical conch horn and Mermaid Bella comes from the blue to say hello!  Sometimes a little shy at first, but after just a few minutes Bella is up at your window peering inside, swimming around outside your window and if you're lucky, blowing you Mermaid Kisses :)
Safe to say that camera's are a must on this tour and we mustn't forget to mention the dreaded Pirate Capt. Jack Swift who might just put in an appearance as well.  Though no need to worry, the most 'dreaded' thing about him are his jokes!  After Bella says goodbye, we travel on to see Reef and Turtles ... a really fun experience, one of a kind and great for all the family.

See www.caicostours.com for more info and some great tips on our 'things to know' page to help you get the most out of your time on board!  You can also read more about the tours on Trip Advisor.

This is the only public tour that Mermaid Bella appears on, if you'd like to spend time with Bella one on one then visit the website www.flukesandflippers.com, or email directly on info@flukesandflippers.com.

And she's UP!! Josie learns to Wakeboard.

Mewling like a kitten, I sat on my backside in the middle of the piste with my feet still strapped into the board that I seemed so despairingly unsuited for. This was about 10 years ago, for 3 consecutive mornings he'd tried in vain to get me down that slope and for three consecutive mornings I walked down it, redundant board hooked under one arm, the look on his face matching my mood, shlepping my way down the same gradient that felt so known and comfortable on skis, but was just so simply unachievable on a snowboard.


So naturally that resigned sense of gloom and failure has surfaced every time the hint of a board sport comes my way. Wakeboarding? Tried that. Filtered the North Shore of TCI through my sinuses before returning it, snot laden to the ocean. Kiteboarding? Strapping the board to my feet and kind of 'bobbing' with the inevitable 'launching faceplant' is about as far as I've got.


So when Sam of Nautique Sports here on Providenciales stated that he could / would have me up on that board I was, naturally, somewhat sceptical …


Making a BIG conscious effort not to manifest the failure that I could feel sneakily creeping up and into my thoughts, I took a big breath, blew it out, and with heels to my butt, knees hugged between my arms I read once more the words on my board 'Hi, my name is William...' (seriously, no idea why) and gave Sam the nod.

He grinned, we where off, a slow start, just as promised, steady, time and momentum enough to do exactly what Sam had instructed.


Connecting mind to body is often a challenge, so let's go back and look at this 'Lauching Faceplant' I referred to earlier. It's a cool move, it happens extremely quickly and is entirely linked to the death grip that us newbies have on the bar and to our failure to connect simple instruction to bodily action. The participant travels a total of 180 degrees, from the fetal, snuggled up 'ready to go' position (as detailed above and so well cued by Sam), through a 'legs akimbo' 4 limbed flailing motion that results in a full frontal, somewhat bewildering (but surprisingly fun) landing.


'Hi Bill' I say, back in position. Making a note to actually DO what Sam has patiently and gently advised, I breath in, I breath out, deny Karma a 2^nd LFF and shout 'GO'!!


And blow me I'm up. I'm actually up. I'm on the board!

I. AM. WAKEBOARDING!!

I'm skimming calm blue waters, running parallel to Water Cay (my absolute favourite stretch of beach on the North Shore), the sun is shining, the water is crystal clear, I've got the wind in my ears, my braids are flapping, my nose is dribbling snotty seawater that I swear is stringing off my face with the wind (there's NO WAY I'm letting go of that bar to wipe it) and I'm smiling.





I smile through the 'oh god oh god oh god' phase.

I nervously giggle as I enter the 'it's going to go wrong ANY second now' phase …




My smile deepens in the 'well that's cool, I'm up and I kind of feel like I'm in control' part, and then I'm GRINNING through the 'GO ME GO ME GO ME GO ME' bit, as I actually relax and realise that I, Josie Smith, am frickin' wakeboarding and I LOVE IT, even with a really snotty face, I LOVE IT !!

 

 Then I fall off, but I don't care, I'm bobbing ('Hi Bill') and whooping and grinning and whooping some more and even though I am clearly at sea level, I feel, on top of the world.

We also have a WEBSITE (www.flukesandflippers.com) as well as a FACEBOOK PAGE set up, and are currently thinking of what silliness can be got up to with the power of the instagram and the little bird twit.

How it all began ...

Depending on the weather, or the level her mischievousness dial is set to (ranges 1-1000), Bella can spin you a tail like no other when it comes to how she got here.

We've known her now for over a year, and have never heard the same version twice.  Not that she's lying mind you, she's not a liar, what she is is a twister of old shapes to make new ones, a blender of shades and tones to make the palette ever changing ... and shapes and colour please her greatly, and if it pleases Bella chances are it will also please the ears of whomever is listening.  She's a generous soul like that.

Did she really meet Christopher Columbus?

We think yes.

Did she fancy him something rotten and guide him away from potentially fatal reefs that could have put an end to his vessel and all on board (including the poodles, there were 2 apparently, both brown) by blowing a fabulous and really rather shiny conch horn?

Yes.  We think she did.

Did she summon up magical powers thought gone from the Mermaid people for 17 generations (but apparently were available to her that day) and create the 'biggest whirlpool ever known in all of forever' just to then rather heroically (and at great personal risk she says) 'save' CC, his boat and all on-board (including the poodles, most definitely the poodles) from certain death with just that little old conch horn again?

Probably didn't quite happen that way, but to hear the story is a real treat.

Whilst Bella has many stories, the tail of how Josie and Bella met is a watery one.  Josie is a freediver, a breath holder who enjoys being underwater without the SCUBA stuff, she enjoys it so much she actually teaches others to do it.  This particular day, Bella was deep down the wall where the Blue is almost Black, and she could hear Josie's heartbeat, she listened and it was slow, and it was steady, and it wasn't covered with the sounds of thinking and mind chatter, of bubbles and of kicking and splashing and the crazy cavorting that most SCUBA divers heartbeats are covered in.

It sounded, curiously different.

So Bella swam up from the deep and right up to Josie (as she wanted to see clearly and closely what this creature was) and promptly scared poor Josie half to death.

Barely making it to the surface from her spot 33ft below, and being in a virtually hypoxic and verily panicked state, Josie gibbered a bit and sort of thrashed and tried to climb up onto her freedive float, all the while making odd little noises, sounds and shrieks ... generally the sort of noises that anyone might well make if they'd just been separated from their wits by a whopping great fish with a face.

Bella responded by mimicking these sounds, not mocking mind you, mimicking, there's a difference. Somewhere in her Mermaid mind she thought Josie was trying to communicate with her!

This went on for a short while, probably just a few seconds but it felt like minutes to the increasingly perplexed two.

However long it was, it was long enough for the inarticulacy (and the idiocy) of the vocal exchange to seep through into their consciousness and shut them both up.

So with the situation now calm, and 'First Contact' successfully made, Josie and Bella looked at one another. They took a good, proper, long look, as both were extremely curious about the other.

At the end of the look they both smiled, and as smiles go, it was a lovely one.

A shared smile full of warmth (and not of hunter and of prey as Josie will admit she thought upon first encountering our fishy friend) and it was with that smile that a rather intriguing and beautiful friendship began. A friendship that is at times weird, odd and confusing, a friendship so open and real that the HUGEST of squabbles have been had and they will, no doubt, continue for years to come ... and you, dearest reader, can follow this friendship, follow the tales of Josie & Bella, of Flukes & Flippers, through this Blog.

Well, as long as they don't kill each other that is.

Flukes & Flippers
August 2014


We also have a WEBSITE (www.flukesandflippers.com) as well as a FACEBOOK PAGE set up, and are currently thinking of what silliness can be got up to with the power of the instagram and the little bird twit.