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The world was blessed 33 years ago today (on April 17) with the birth of a real-life mermaid who has made it her mission to save our planet’s waters. I’m speaking about Dame Merle “Eco Mermaid” Liivand. Born in Estonia, Merle was a very sick child with autoimmune disease. At 12, her lungs almost collapsed. That’s when Merle adopted swimming as her natural, home-grown cure. Today, Merle lives on Miami Beach and is defying all odds with her endurance swims.
Even to this day not completely healthy, Mermaid Merle has won countless swimming competitions, set quite a few Guinness World Records and most importantly has carried a torch worldwide in an effort to clean our waters. Incredibly, most of her records were set by swimming with a monofin mermaid’s tail, thus the mermaid nickname.
In 2023, Merle broke her own world record (a 26.2-mi swim in a monofin) right here in Biscayne Bay by swimming an unbelievable 30 miles over 14 straight hours. Incredibly, during her swim, she also collected 35 pounds of trash to raise awareness about the pollution in our waters.
Merle is alarmed about how many bottles and plastics she pulls from our waters every day. “I concentrate not on being an Olympic or world-class athlete, but rather to give back to the water,” reflects Merle. “I get sad and nearly cry when I see what people are doing. We are all suffering when we pollute.” Merle works individually and as part of organizations in this endeavor. She is an eathday.org World Cleanup Day Ambassador, and was the reason there is a “Mermaid Law” law in Nicaragua that prohibits plastic bottles and explosives from being put in the ocean. In 2022, she also spoke at Davos to world leaders about how she was losing her lungs and now is trying to save Earth’s lungs, our oceans.
Merle laments, “Microplastics are my grave concern. They are showing up in our wildlife and in human blood and our guts. As health concerns grow, this has turned into one of the greatest issues in our society and it affects people in everyday life.” She held up a container and polluted it with a facial scrub product to show how easily microbeads get into our water supply.
At the press conference at Miami Yacht Club, Merle celebrated her birthday and helped unveil a special surprise. Voltari, a boat company that makes innovative all-electric boats that free the waters of pollution and noise, named their latest boat “Merle.” CEO Cam Heaps and crew christened it with Mermaid Merle and, in a rare moment, she rode in the boat rather than swimming beside it.
During Merle’s press conference she explained that her Olympic dreams are already threatened. “I am sad about the conditions for the Olympics in Paris. The Seine River water is so dirty that they are thinking of canceling the marathon swimming event altogether. It is an emergency for the Olympics, and it is the same emergency for Biscayne Bay.
“Our oceans and bays and waterways are dying,” said Mermaid Merle. “I can’t attempt a new world record here in Miami because the water is too polluted.”
If you want to follow this dynamic lady’s environmental efforts, you can check her out at instagram.com/aquamjerle and merleliivand.com.
18th Annual Deering Seafood Festival
On April 14, more than 8000 people found their way to the Deering Seafood Festival. With food tents from Golden Rule Seafood, Sports Grill, Popos Seafood and about a dozen others, there was something for everyone. Chill-N was there for ice cream and a selection of Eagle Brands beer and a frozen drink stand kept the crowds quenched. There were also cooking demonstrations from our local famous chefs and restaurants.
Nina Zanella, Executive Director of The Deering Estate Foundation explains, “We started the festival as a way to get people down to the Deering Estate, our hidden gem in Palmetto Bay, and it grew to this major event.”
And that is the point. It is so much more than the seafood. This event should really be called the Deering Community Festival. It is the Spring event where you need to see and be seen. It is a way to be connected to neighbors and feel connected to nature and the community.
Located in Palmetto Bay, the Charles Deering Estate is a historic 444-acre site which houses both Deering’s estate buildings but also is an archeological site with discoveries of Seminal tribe remains and saber-tooth tigers going back 15,000 years.
Open year-round, you can enjoy nature, artist residency shows, educational programs and more. There are memberships and day passes available at deeringestate.org
Real Estate Update
As of 4/24/24, there were 125 properties for sale in Pinecrest, 28 homes pending sale and 4.6 months of inventory. If you’re ready to move, contact me to get the best local expertise, truthful guidance and realistic expectations. It’s easy to get started at miamihal.com/getstarted.
I invite you to view past episodes of my The MiamiHal Real Estate Show at miamihal.com/the-miamihal-real-estate-show to hear from experts and get the latest real estate news.
Hal Feldman (MiamiHal) is a Realtor with RE/MAX Advance Realty. You can contact him with your story ideas or real estate questions at www.MiamiHal.com, Hal@MiamiHal.com or www.facebook.com/MiamiHal
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