03/08/2026
Love this! Mertastic 🤩
A qualified 'professional' mermaid has seen her business boom in the heatwave.
Hannah Pearl, 44, claims to have been a mermaid since birth and even owns three tails.
The mermaid from Bristol is a qualified free diver, scuba diver and holder of an official mermaid licence from one of the world's first mermaid schools in the Philippines.
She is often in the water boasting one of her three colourful mermaid tails, each worth £300.
But alongside swimming, Hannah says a big part of being a professional mermaid is conservation work - which for her means educating children on the wonders of the ocean and helping them to protect it.
She has written two eco children's books, volunteers at local libraries for mermaid storytelling sessions, and goes out regularly on beach litter cleans.
Hannah, who also crowned Mrs Ocean World UK 2026 at a national pageant centred around conservation and environmental action, said: "I have been a mermaid since I was born - and honestly I always believed I could be one.
"Being underwater is crabulous for me. A huge part of what I do is help children fall in love with the ocean, and make them aware of the incredible marine life that is worth protecting.
"There is no better way for kids to learn than to hear this from someone who is from the ocean. Summer is definitely busier with kids events and parties - many more people are visiting beaches and swimming in the sea due to the heatwaves.
"It's so important to protect our beaches and ensure people take litter home and participate in safe swimming following RNLI advice."
Hannah learnt how to swim at the age of three, and scuba dive when she was 25 in the Great Barrier Reef, in Australia. After falling in love with diving, Hannah attended one of the first 'pioneering mermaid schools in the world ' in 2017 - the Philippine Mermaid Swimming Academy - to obtain her mermaid licence.
She also attended the UK's first mermaid camp where she learnt how to pose underwater with a mermaid tail, free dive, and how to host mermaid diving parties for kids. She now has three mermaid tails, each costing £300 and made from swimsuit material, and also makes her own mermaid outfits from recycled materials that she collects on litter picks.
Hannah added: "Scuba diving underwater with a mermaid tail is actually quite difficult. But if you ever get to try it I would really recommend."
Her other mermaid duties include passionately spreading the word about our need to protect the ocean. Hannah said: "Children are the future ocean heroes.
"It's about spreading that important message whilst making it fun and engaging. We protect what we love."
Hannah's published children's books are based on a marine warrior mermaid who tackles big marine problems, such as the Great Pacific Garbage patch (a huge collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean) and ghost nets, which threaten the lives of all marine life.
She has also released a free online children's game called 'Little Ocean Rescue' - which is raising money for Marine Conservation Society UK, the Paul Watson foundation and the Two Minute Foundation.
Hannah's top eco-tips for how to be more sustainable include talking an extra bag out on a walk to collect any litter you see, get involved with a local beach clean group, stop eating fish and swap out one plastic item per month.
She added: "It's not about being perfect but making small changes and being a conscious consumer!"
✍Howard Lloyd
