Living The Mermaid Dream: Two Months In The Caribbean

My journey as a professional mermaid kicked off after I spent two months in the Caribbean island Grenada. I traversed a jungle, got my scuba license to explore the underwater world, and I modeled in mermaid tails for a group of artists. Needless to say, it was the adventure of a life time. I'm going to share that experience with you in this article.

I'm not trying to brag, I just want to share some life lessons and try to inspire others to have their own adventures and live the mermaid dream.

Chapter 1: Work Work Work

In 2018, my grandmother passed away. The year was rough, especially as I was working full time and going to school. I studied English in school, and worked as a supervisor at a thrift store.

The pressure of being in charge was really starting to get to me. I didn't think I could do it much longer. Meanwhile, my sister was living in Grenada while her husband attended St. George Medical School there.

My mind was full of imagery of the ocean, and the sandy beaches with the beautiful rocks that I loved climbing. We had visited her earlier that year, and I fell in love with island life. I needed to go back. I fantasized about it constantly.

Come December, I decided I would do it. I would quit my job and live in Grenada for two months.

I informed my job I would be leaving after Christmas. They were happy for me to be going off on a big adventure. They even threw me a going away party with an adorable mermaid cake.

Then I bought a one way ticket to Grenada and departed early in January 2019.

Chapter 2: The Departure

Things got off to a rocky start. First off, I was a mess; an absolute bundle of nerves. I had been in a situationship for a while and since I was leaving we decided to take a break. This was emotional for me, but I was also looking forward to having more freedom.

We had been texting during my car ride to the air port when something very scary happened.

We were flying down 95 when suddenly there was a car stopped ahead of us. We had to slam on the breaks. The person behind us also had to slam on their breaks, only they ended up swerving around us. Unfortunately, there was a car pulled over on the side of the road and the person behind us crashed into them.

The loud BOOM shook the car and momentarily we thought we had been hit. But it was a close call. We continued driving safely, but we were shaken up. It caused my dad to miss the exit. Then he was frustrated and I was feeling the tension in the air.

We made it to the airport and said some emotional goodbyes. I would be there for two months, but my sister, who had been visiting us for Christmas and decided to fly back with me, would be there for another year or so. My mom was losing both her children to this island.

Everything went smoothly at the airport, except it was an exhausting night of travel, given we had a layover. We got on our first flight, which dropped us off in Miami, where we had to sleep overnight.

That night, I laid on the airport floor, sleeping with my jacket as a blanket and my backpack as a pillow so I could protect my valuables.

When I woke up after managing to get some sleep, it was time to spend a lot of money on coffee and breakfast. We also had a lot of time to kill. I tried to get work done, but had no wifi. Eventually we made it onto the plane.

As the plane took off, I gazed down on the world below, shrinking, looking so small and insignificant. I reflected on my life choices, and what my future would hold. It was terrifying, but so electrifying, knowing I was starting this whole new life. I had no idea what would happen.

Chapter 3: My New Life

I know it sounds like I was just taking a vacation, but it was more than that. I was going to school online, doing remote transcription work, and working on building up a blog.

Sure I had adventures almost every day, but it didn't feel like a vacation. It was just my life.

I had an apartment that was only $700 a month, with a full kitchen, bedroom, living space and a porch. Oh, how I adored that porch. There was nothing like the cool air mixed with the morning sunshine, sipping on the perfect cup of coffee that I made with my french press.

At first it was lonely. I had my sister and we did everything together. Painted, ate food, went to the beach, did yoga classes, went on adventures. Yet I still felt alone. My situationship was talking to me less and less, and I knew absolutely no one on the island.

I tried a dating app, but never ended up meeting anyone from it. But one night, I ended up making friends at a place called Container Park. It was a little social hub of converted shipping containers turned into shops. There was a bar, ice cream shop, some food stands, and a coffee shop. Every week the bar had karaoke night. I couldn't resist the siren's call to attend, and I was so glad I did.

I made a friend there, who introduced me to new people. I ended up going to karaoke every week, and I even sang in front of everyone. It felt amazing.

My sister brought me to a lot of social gatherings, including an art club's drawing night. There, we all did sketches of a woman who modeled for us. At the end, everyone tipped her. I saw an opportunity and asked if I could be one of their models. I did two or three modeling sessions for them and that also felt amazing. The money was good, too.

I had become this brave, confident person. I was doing all kinds of wild things. I decided to rent a moped for my time there, which was $200 a month. There's nothing quite like zooming around an island on a moped. I made a friend who was inspired by me to get her own moped. We went on moped adventures together, riding along cliff sides and visiting light houses and secret beaches.

I was loving my life. I was doing mermaid modeling, seeing the beach every day, cruising around in the sun, eating exotic food, hiking through mountains, and learning to scuba dive.

However, my depression was still there lurking in the background. Despite the fun I was having, I was struggling with the fact that it was all going to end. The clock would strike midnight and my moment in the sun would disappear. I knew I had to go back to reality and face working and living with my parents. I didn't know what I would do with my life after my time there. I didn't want to work a job that made me miserable, but I knew I had to make money and grow in a career.

A month in, I was still grappling with loneliness, and feeling incompetent as I watched my sister blossom in her art journey. I couldn't help compare myself to her, as I saw her thriving; selling art in galleries and leading paint and sip sessions. I didn't know what I was doing with my life. I was still adjusting to living on my own, dealing with adult problems like ants in my apartment and a freezer that kept over freezing.

After some time and therapy, I became comfortable in Grenada. It started to feel like home. I had a handful of friends, a little romantic fling, and I got to see my best friend for 9 days.

My bestie visited me 9 days before the two month mark. We scheduled flights home together. It was a blast having her there, and I had many stories to tell her. We made many more stories of our own. I will cherish that time always.

Chapter 4: The Troubles

I neglected to mention some of the dramatic things that happened. I've always been a "good news first" person. Let me tell you some of my stressful situations there.

Many of my problems had to do with my scooter. I crashed it on my first day with it. I was (mostly) unscathed, but I was embarrassed and scuffed up after being thrown into the grass. The scooter had little damage, but I felt discouraged, wondering if I should take the scooter back. I was afraid to ride it again for a few days, but I got the courage to get back on it. I became pretty good at riding it.

Then, one evening, I took it out for karaoke night, stupidly parking it in a sketchy spot. Around 10 pm or so I was ready to head home, but the scooter was gone.

I had a friend take me to the bus stop and I was able to get home, safely. In the morning I reported it stolen. Within 20 minutes they found the scooter. Guess whoever stole it didn't get very far without the keys.

Then there was the incident where I locked my keys inside of it. It was during my friend's visit. We were going out for ice cream and I accidentally locked my wallet and keys inside the storage compartment of the moped. It was a very hot day and we had to go on a grueling adventure to find the guy I rented it from to see if he had a spare key.

I managed to squeeze my arm into the storage compartment and grab the key. It definitely cut off my circulation but it got the job done.

The next misfortune was the time I got sick from doing an underwater photoshoot. I'm not a trained free diver, but I swam around in my mermaid tail while being photographed underwater. Holding my breath too much caused a buildup of carbon dioxide in my blood, otherwise known as hypercapnia.

I felt so sick after that photoshoot that I couldn't make it to my scuba lesson. Instead I was hunched over, vomiting for an hour.

That wasn't the only time the ocean hurt me. During one scuba practice my leg brushed against some fire coral, causing a searing flair of pain and a rash that lasted days. I also experience pain from sea urchins and sharp barnacles.

Then there was the fact that cat calling women was a very normal practice there. Every single day men were hooting and hollering at me.

A few times, men walked right up to my porch to flirt with me, which I was not comfortable with. There was also an occasion where someone came to my porch and followed me inside my apartment to get me to give him money, saying he needed it for his medication. The landlord informed me it was a scammer.

Another time, my best friend and I were given a hard time after ordering a second drink at a bar. The bartender was suspicious of us and thought we were going to drive drunk, even though we didn't plan on having more than 2 drinks. I think he was just concerned, but it felt like we were in trouble.

We did find ourselves in a bit of trouble a few times. We had a friend let us onto the college campus as his visitors, but then he immediately started to leave after dropping us off, and the campus guard came up to us and began arguing with him, so we decided to leave.

Another time, while hanging with a Caribbean friend, he somehow got us into an exclusive beach party, but it turned out we weren't supposed to be there. More trouble with security guards.

It was a very interesting time. It just showed how chaotic and unpredictable and exciting life can be.

Chapter 5: The Lessons

I chronicled the lessons I learned through a blog I had recently started. "You Only Liv Once." Ha ha ha, cheesy, I know.

One thing I noted was that I felt very fortunate, and that sometimes we needed to do scary things in order to grow and find ourselves.

I learned that inside of me there is a tiger. I felt fearless, jumping off cliffs, diving beneath the waves, singing in front of a crowd, and climbing Mount Saint Catherine. I really felt like a badass.

As I write this it is six years later and things are very different.

I spent over half my money during those two glorious months. And following my time there, I spent a decent amount of money visiting Key West and staying in an Air B and B boat, to attend The Key West Mermaid Festival.

That was just as magical an experience, and yes, they have mopeds there! Me and the bestie went on that trip together, and got up to the same shenanigans as we did in Grenada. Grenada would always be there in my heart, inspiring me to be that person again.

But after those adventures I was left with very little money. I don't regret those experiences, but it kills me how much money I spent on it all.

On the topic of money, I learned how to find ways to make money away from home. I got by, and I still get by. Am I flourishing? Not really, but I hold those memories dear. They were well worth the money.

I can always earn more money, but I can never be a 22 year old living on an island again. I can say I lived my life on my own terms, making the most of every moment.

At the present, I'm back to where I was at the beginning of the story. My life consists of working as a dietary aide at a nursing home, while growing my blog and Youtube channel. My regret is that I didn't start my Youtube channel while in Grenada. Those would have been some epic vlogs!

I'll never forget my time spent in Grenada. I think about it almost every day. I just turned 30, and I'm looking forward to a life with many more magical adventures.

Where should my next big adventure be? I'm thinking a car camping roadtrip. Check out some of my other articles about car camping. It's my latest hyper-fixation, and I think something big is on the horizon!

Follow along on the Mermaid Liv adventures!

About the author

Shello! My name is Mermaid Liv, a professional mermaid and content creator. I share my love of mermaiding through this blog, along with my Youtube channel.

If you've never heard of it before, mermaiding is a hobby, profession, and sport that involves wearing mermaid tails made for swimming.

I began making tails in 2013 and have continued my mermaid journey, starting my Youtube channel, working at a mermaid festival, performing at gigs, and being featured in the Netflix Docu Series MerPeople.

Follow me on Instagram for mermaid photos and videos: @the_real_mermaid_liv and be *shore* to check out my Youtube channel.