Pool or open water?

Learn in a pool, and stay in one until you are trained for more. We understand the pull of the sea, and it is beautiful. It is also a very different place to swim with your legs joined together.

Why a pool first

A pool removes most of the things that go wrong in open water. That leaves you free to learn the tail itself.

• Clear water. Your instructor or watcher can see all of you, all the time, from the surface.
• A known depth. There is a floor, walls and an edge, and you know where each one is.
• No current, waves or boats. If you stop swimming, you stay where you are.
• Somewhere to rest. The edge is never more than a few strokes away.
• Help close by, and an easy way out.

A tail ties your legs together, so you cannot tread water or kick hard the way you normally would. In a pool that matters less, because you can reach the edge or stand up. In the sea it can matter a great deal.

What the safety bodies say

Royal Life Saving Society Australia advises keeping mermaid tails and monofins to controlled settings, such as pools, with an adult actively supervising. It does not recommend them in open water at all, because rip currents and swell raise the risk of drowning. It also advises keeping clear of submerged hazards such as rocks and caves.

Divers Alert Network gives similar advice to anyone diving on a single breath. It recommends using floats and dive flags, choosing a site away from boat traffic, and getting proper training from a recognised agency first.

What changes in open water

• Moving water. Currents, tides and swell can carry you. Swimming across them is harder in a tail, and so is waiting at the surface for help.
• Visibility. It changes from day to day, and is often far lower than in a pool. A watcher who loses sight of you for a few seconds may not find you quickly.
• No edge, and an uneven bottom. There may be nowhere to rest, and the floor can be far away, rocky or soft.
• Things to snag on or swim into: rocks, coral, lines, nets and caves.
• Boats. A swimmer low in the water, with only a head showing, is hard for a skipper to see.
• Sea life. Most encounters are harmless. Some are not.
• Sun, heat and cold. Each tires you faster than you expect, and tiredness shortens a safe breath-hold.

Experience does not make these go away. A small 2017 survey of professional mermaids was published in International Maritime Health. Half reported encounters with sea life, and more than a third reported problems with the cold. Ear problems were the most common complaint of all.

Open water in and around Singapore

Some local facts are worth knowing before anyone takes a tail into the sea here.

• Water quality. The National Environment Agency (NEA) tests seven popular beaches every week, including Sentosa, East Coast Park and Changi. Only beaches graded "Good" or better are considered suitable for swimming.
• Rain and advisories. NEA publishes weekly results and any advisories online. It advises staying out of the water just after heavy rain, and not swimming with open cuts, skin infections, or when you feel unwell.
• Jellyfish. NParks reports that box jellyfish have been seen along Singapore's coasts. It advises covering as much skin as you can, never swimming alone, and bringing plain vinegar to the beach.
• Stings. NParks treats a serious sting as an emergency: call 995. Flood the sting with seawater, and vinegar if you have it. Never use fresh water, and never pull tentacles off by hand.
• Currents. Even sheltered spots can surprise you. At Sisters' Islands Marine Park, NParks warns of sudden strong currents in the lagoon, and notes there is no lifeguard on duty.
• Lightning. Singapore is one of the most lightning-prone countries in the world. In August 2026 the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Grace Fu, said in a written reply to Parliament that lightning is recorded at Changi on about 176 days a year.
• Lightning alerts. NEA's myENV app can alert you to lightning, or to thundery showers forecast within two hours, near a location you choose.
• A national standard. Singapore launched SS 701, a code of practice for inland and open-water sporting activities, in January 2024. It helps organisers assess the risks of activities in open water and plan for them.

Lightning matters in outdoor pools as well as the sea. The US CDC advises leaving pools and beaches when a storm comes, and waiting at least 30 minutes after it passes before going back.

When a tail is ready for the sea

Open water is a step that comes after training, not instead of it. A sensible order looks like this.

1. Be at home in the pool first. Take the tail off quickly, rest at the surface, hold your breath calmly, and surface smoothly.
2. Train for open water itself, with an instructor who teaches it. Training for open water comes after advanced pool training. MFI's Ocean Mermaid specialty and Producer (M3) level, which include confined or open-water sessions, are not offered here yet, so ask Aliyah about the right next step.
3. Go as a team, never alone. At least one trained person watches only you, from the surface, the whole time.
4. Choose the site for the tail, not the photo. Look for calm, clear, sheltered water, away from boats, with an easy way in and out.
5. Make yourselves visible. A surface float or flag shows boats and your team where you are.
6. Check conditions on the day. Look at NEA's beach advisory, the weather and lightning forecast, the tides, and any jellyfish notices.
7. Keep it short and shallow. Plan to finish well before anyone is tired or cold.
8. Agree what happens if something goes wrong: how you signal, who goes in, and who calls 995.

If any one of these is missing, the answer for that day is the pool.

Common mistakes

• Treating a calm holiday beach like a big pool.
• Taking a tail bought online straight into the sea, untested.
• Swimming further out than you could swim back without the tail.
• Assuming the beach lifeguard is watching you. They watch a whole stretch of water; you need someone watching only you. See Never alone.
• Going in after heavy rain, with a storm building, or without checking for jellyfish notices.
• Pushing breath-holds in the sea the way you might in a pool. See Breath-holding and shallow-water blackout.

In our courses

Every course at The Dancing Mermaid is taught in a pool in Singapore, mostly one-to-one. None of them takes place in open water. If you are thinking about the sea later on, ask Aliyah. She will tell you honestly whether you are ready, and what the next step should be.