Published TUESDAY September 2, 2025: 'Weeki Wachee Sirens' Photography by ZUMA Partner newspaper The Tampa Bay Times Pulitzer winning photo-journalist Douglas R. Clifford and story by award winning writer Gabrielle Calise: The water is cold, but I'm too nervous to shiver. I try to kick to safety, but my legs are bound. I'm wearing the tail of a mermaid, I've never felt more painfully human. 'You OK?' asks Rita, one of the ''Legendary Sirens of Weeki Wachee,'' mermaid performers from decades past. 'Want to try it again?' Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, one of the last mid-century roadside attractions left in Florida is home to the deepest freshwater cave system in the US. In 1946, when ex-Navy frogman Newton Perry discovered the spring, he didn't know it was the entrance to a collection of deep underwater caverns. But he had a vision: a sunken theater, where people could watch pretty women do water ballet and chug grape soda underwater. Welcome to 'Weeki Wachee Sirens'
© zReportage.com Issue #1003 Story of the Week: Published TUESDAY September 2, 2025: 'Weeki Wachee Sirens' Photography by ZUMA Partner newspaper The Tampa Bay Times Pulitzer winning photo-journalist Douglas R. Clifford and story by award winning writer Gabrielle Calise: The water is cold, but I'm too nervous to shiver. I try to kick to safety, but my legs are bound. I'm wearing the tail of a mermaid, I've never felt more painfully human. 'You OK?' asks Rita, one of the ''Legendary Sirens of Weeki Wachee,'' mermaid performers from decades past. 'Want to try it again?' Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, one of the last mid-century roadside attractions left in Florida is home to the deepest freshwater cave system in the US. In 1946, when ex-Navy frogman Newton Perry discovered the spring, he didn't know it was the entrance to a collection of deep underwater caverns. But he had a vision: a sunken theater, where people could watch pretty women do water ballet and chug grape soda underwater. Welcome to 'Weeki Wachee Sirens'

GABRIELLE CALISE laughs as she checks the fit on her dive mask while attending the Sirens of the Deep mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. The park, one of the last mid-century roadside attractions left in Florida is home to the deepest freshwater cave system in the US and a legendary group of under water mermaid performers.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

Legendary Weeki Wachee mermaid RITA KING (C) helps GABRIELLE CALISE, culture and nostalgia reporter with the Tampa Bay Times, as she slips on a mermaid tail while attending the Sirens of the Deep mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

GABRIELLE CALISE practices her mermaid skills under the instruction of legendary Weeki Wachee mermaid RITA KING, (L) while attending the Sirens of the Deep mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

Wearing a rainbow covered mermaid tail, Kat English, of Spring Hill, swims in the headspring at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park while attending the Sirens of the Deep mermaid camp.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

A Weeki Wachee mermaid performs in a rendition of The Little Mermaid for visitors at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in the park's historic underwater theater.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

GABRIELLE CALISE, foreground, joins KAT ENGLISH, of Spring Hill, for a swim with mermaid tails while attending the Sirens of the Deep camp at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

GABRIELLE CALISE swims through the cool waters of the headspring while attending the Sirens of the Deep mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

Visitors drift from the beach at Buccaneer Bay toward the Weeki Wachee River on the spring-fed 72-degree water on a warm Sunday, at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

GABRIELLE CALISE (L), flips while practicing her mermaid skills under the instruction of legendary Weeki Wachee mermaid RITA KING (C), while attending the Sirens of the Deep mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

Mermaid students swarm the windows while attending mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in the park's historic underwater theater.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

Legendary Weeki Wachee mermaid RITA KING looks through thick glass and greets visitors at the Sirens of the Deep mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park near the park's historic underwater theater.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

Beneath the surface, a turtle wiggles past GABRIELLE CALISE, as she swims through the headspring while attending the Sirens of the Deep mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

GABRIELLE CALISE (L) practices her mermaid skills while attending the Sirens of the Deep mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. 'It feels like we're in a fishbowl the width of a football field. Soon, we're treading water over a sprawling, rocky canyon' she says.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

GABRIELLE CALISE leaves the headspring at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park. Weeki Wachee, named by Seminole Indians, means ''winding waters,'' King says. Do we feel that current nudging us? Over 117 million gallons of water gush from beneath the Earth's surface here every day.'
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire

GABRIELLE CALISE gets into character and participates in a portrait session while attending the Sirens of the Deep mermaid camp at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.
© Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire