Weeki Wachee is a first-magnitude spring on US 19, about an hour north of Tampa, where more than 117 million gallons of 74-degree water rise out of the ground every day. Since October 13, 1947, women dressed as mermaids have performed in it, in front of a theater built into the limestone below the surface, while the audience watches through glass. It is one of the oldest roadside attractions in Florida and, since 2008, a state park.
The Navy frogman
Newton Perry trained Navy frogmen in World War II. After the war he went looking for a spring to build a business around and found Weeki Wachee in 1946, a hole in the woods full of rusted refrigerators and abandoned cars. He cleaned it out, built an 18-seat theater six feet below the surface, and worked out the trick that makes the whole thing possible: instead of tanks, performers breathe from free-flowing air hoses fed by a compressor. They take a breath, let go of the hose, and perform. The first show opened on October 13, 1947. US 19 was so empty that the mermaids would run out to the road in their swimsuits to wave cars in.
The ABC years
In 1959 the American Broadcasting Company bought the spring and built the current theater: 400 seats, embedded in the side of the spring 16 feet down. The mermaids perform 16 to 20 feet below the surface in a current running about five miles an hour. Elvis Presley came. So did Esther Williams, Don Knotts and Arthur Godfrey. Shows ran eight times a day. For a while, Weeki Wachee was as big a deal as anything in Florida.
What is under them
The spring has no known bottom. Divers from Karst Underwater Research spent the summer of 2007 mapping the cave system beneath the theater and reached 407 feet, making Weeki Wachee the deepest known freshwater cave system in the United States. While the mermaids were doing the Little Mermaid, there were cave divers 400 feet below them.
Visiting: Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, 6131 Commercial Way (US 19), Weeki Wachee. Mermaid shows run daily; Buccaneer Bay, the spring-fed swimming area with slides, opened in 1982 and runs in warm months. The Weeki Wachee River is also one of the best kayak runs in the state, clear enough to see the bottom the whole way to the Gulf.
The old mermaids
Since 1997 the park has run shows by the Mermaids of Yesteryear, former performers now in their 60s, 70s and 80s who come back and swim the old routines. They play to full houses. Weeki Wachee's name is Seminole for "little spring" or "winding river." The state took it over on November 1, 2008, after years of the attraction nearly closing. It is doing fine.
Pair it with Tampa Bay
Weeki Wachee is an hour from Tampa and 90 minutes from St. Pete. Do the morning show, kayak the river to the Gulf, and spend the next day on the bay: Tampa Bay sandbar tours run to the shell bars off Egmont Key and Shell Key, sunset cruises leave downtown and St. Pete, and dolphin trips go daily. Our Tampa guide covers the rest.
Questions people ask
When did the Weeki Wachee mermaid shows start?
The first show was October 13, 1947, in an 18-seat theater built six feet below the surface by Newton Perry, a former Navy frogman trainer.
How do the Weeki Wachee mermaids breathe underwater?
From free-flowing air hoses fed by a compressor, a method Perry developed. They take a breath from the hose, let go, and perform.
How deep is Weeki Wachee Spring?
The bottom has never been found. Cave divers mapped the system to 407 feet in 2007, the deepest known freshwater cave in the United States.
Is Weeki Wachee a state park?
Yes. Florida took it over on November 1, 2008. Shows still run daily.
How far is Weeki Wachee from Tampa?
About an hour north on US 19, in Hernando County.