Mermaids to the rescue
A sailor falls overboard and at the last moment, a beautiful mermaid pulls him to the surface, saving his life. That’s stuff that only happens in fairy tales, right? That’s what happened at Catalina Island, California. Javier Claramunt, his father Josh Claramunt and Pablo Avila were visiting Catalina Island. They decided to go scuba diving, but toward the end of their dive, Pablo Avila suddenly lost consciousness and began to quickly sink underwater. “Honestly, I thought I was looking at a dead man,” Javier told Inside Edition. The Claramunt pair were unable to pull Pablo to the surface, Javier and his father did the only thing they could. They started yelling for help in case anyone happened to be within earshot. Avila was foaming at the mouth, leading them to suspect that he’d suffered an air embolism. This condition can happen to divers as air bubbles form in their blood vessels. It’s life-threatening and requires immediate attention. A trio of mermaids heard their cries for help and swam to their rescue.
Luckily, Ellie Jimenez — a 33-year-old former dancer and professional diver and mermaid performer — was holding an open-water advanced Mermaiding course in the vicinity of the men. Attending the course were four students, plus Ellie’s boyfriend and professional underwater photographer Darren Leonardi. She couldn’t have picked a more perfect location for her course. Around midday, Ellie suddenly heard cries: “Help, help! He’s blacked out!” Without a second thought, Ellie and her two apprentice mermaids sprang into action. Still wearing their mermaid tails they began swimming toward the three men. Each of the women holds a Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) certification in best diving practices.
The men could barely believe her eyes when three fairy tale creatures emerged from the waves. “I get three ‘helps’ out and then honestly, just a troop of mermaids pop up out of the water. It’s just like a Disney movie,” Javier recalled. “I started removing Pablo’s weights and equipment because it was making it difficult to keep him above the surface,” Ellie said. Mermaid Suzie Garcia gave Avila rescue breaths in the water. The three mermaids held him up and together they pulled the three men to the shore. At the beach, one of the mermaid students who works as a paramedic started giving Avila CPR. The resuscitation was a slow process, but eventually, it worked. “It felt like forever before he started breathing again. It took a while before he woke up and that he was OK was such a relief,” said Ellie, the lead mermaid. Shortly paramedics arrived and took Avila to a decompression chamber. Each of the three men has since fully recovered.
Never make fun of Ariel again!
Mermaid Mirth
A young man fell in love with a mermaid.
Everything was going smoothly until his mother began to smell something fishy.
So my brother is dating a mermaid.
Yeah, apparently their relationship is on the rocks.
Mermaids shouldn’t be called mermaids,
the politically correct term is hu-manatee
Why do drones get so many pictures of mermaids?
They’re Ariel photographers.
July 31st Birthdays
1980 – Alexis Knapp, 1998 – Barbie Forteza, 1965 – J. K. Rowling, 1943 – Susan Flannery
1962 – Wesley Snipes, 1979 – A J. Green, 1997 – Blake Michael, 1912 – Milton Friedman