Weeki Wachee, Florida: Weeki Wachee is a city located in Hernando County, Florida, United States, It has one of the oldest roadside attractions in Florida named Weeki Wachee Springs.It is the only place in the world where mermaids(Jal Pari) are among the state employees.Weeki Wachee Springs is known as “ The Only City Of Live Mermaids”.It lies at the intersection of U.S. 19 and State Road 50 l.Weeki Wachee Springs has a Mermaid Theater ,which has drawn visitors for decades.Here women dress up as mermaids and perform shows underwater. The mermaids perform shows for the visitors.The women paint their faces to make themselves look more as fish.The theatre was first opened in 1947 by Navy veteran, Newton Perry.Later The American Broadcasting Company purchased it and built a new theater 16 feet below the surface, according to Slate. Thirty-five mermaids were employed then, and they performed eight shows a day. The mermaids perform two shows, The Little Mermaid and Fish Tails, a few times a day.They use hidden underwater breathing hoses to maintain the fantastical illusion of being able to live underwater.The park is open all year long to visitors.During the warmer months seats are often filled. The theme park also offers lessons on how to be a mermaid, learning how to take gulps of air from the hose, balancing the pressure on their ears and sinuses while being buffeted by a 12-mile-an-hour current.The 538-acre park features a first magnitude spring and a 400-seat submerged theatre for watching the live mermaid show.The spring, plus a second-magnitude spring in the park and several smaller springs outside the park, combine to form the 7-mile-long Weeki Wachee River.The spring's average discharge is 112 million gallons a day. The sandy-bottomed spring pool is large, at 165 feet by 210 feet, but the vent is a small 20-foot by 3-foot opening through exposed limestone rock at a depth of 185 feet. The force of the discharge is too great for safe entry except during drought conditions. Divers report that the cave has a roomlike tunnel that is 55 feet wide, 28 feet high, and 220 feet long. They have been able to map and explore over 6,700 feet of deep passages, and report 1 pit to be just over 400 feet deep, the deepest recorded in the United States.Tourists can take a river boat cruise and canoe or kayak on the Weeki Wachee River in order to see mermaids.Mermaids here use hidden underwater breathing hoses to maintain the fantastical illusion of being able to live underwater.
Updated on: December 13, 2013 6:43 IST
