My book/blog is proof that Mermaid, Nymphs and Sirens were real-life women divers like the ama and haenyo divers of Japan and Korea. I also discuss the Aquatic Ape Theory.
(I have asked Penguin books permission to use these photos from the book, Hekara, The Diving Girl’s Island, as they had taken over the original publishers Hamish Hamilton.)
[Note: you may find that the fonts are not constant throughout this blog. This is because when I cut and paste from my book to this blog the fonts changed. I tried to clean it up as best I could but I don't know enough about html code to do this completely. So expect random changes in the font as you read this blog.]
[Painting by John William Waterhouse, (1849-1917), which shows a traditional mermaid theme of her luring sailors to their doom by her wonderful singing and harp playing. Except that this mermaid doesn't have a traditional fish tail. These are themes I will discuss more fully in my book.]
For many people, what they know about mermaids is what they
have seen in
popular Walt Disney films like Splash and The Little Mermaid or read in fairy tales. While the academic explanation is that mermaid myths and legends originated from ignorant or drunken
sailors who in the past, have incorrectly thought that sea-cows were women with
a fish tail.
Yet, sea cows only exist in tropical waters, while most
mermaid sighting come from European waters where there are no sea-cows. There is a better explanation for Mermaid
myths, legends and sightings as I will explain in the following chapters.
