- February 5, 2025
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Growing up in Florida, Port Orange resident MJ Souch was always influenced by the water. She particularly remembers visiting Weeki Wachee Springs as a child and watching the mermaids.
Souch said she would stand there mesmerized, thinking that someday, she would be doing this.
Several states away, another little girl named Nicole Chase was living in Pennsylvania. Chase and her family were frequently near the water and would spend two weeks in the summer boating and swimming. Chase especially loved the water and said that wherever the water was, that was where she needed to be.
Both of the little girls grew up and started families of their own. Souch became a photographer, and Chase moved to Central Florida where she started a job that would propel her in a surprisingly new direction. Chase had become frustrated with her office job at a call center, wondering what her purpose in life was, feeling trapped and wishing she could be outside.
"I was so depressed because of the job wearing me down, to the point of suicide," Chase said, adding that she began to wonder, "What can I do to get out of this? What can I do to bring joy into my life?"
Chase realized that what she loved was being in the water, and that would be where she would find her joy. Then, last summer, Chase bought a mermaid tail that she could wear while swimming. The fun experience of swimming with a mermaid tail made an immediate positive effect in Chase's life, and she soon realized that she wanted to share that same joy she found with other people.
Not far away, Souch was taking photos of rescued animals for the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet. It was her work here that encouraged her passion for conservation and protecting the animals and ocean where she lived.
Then, at the beginning of this year, Chase brought her children to the beach before walking across the street to a gift shop. She began talking with the person at the register about her idea to create a way for other people to have mermaid adventures while helping the community when she was told she should meet another woman with a similar passion who was visiting the shop at that moment. That person was MJ.
According to Chase, the meeting was meant to be. The day the two met, Chase gave Souch her first mermaid tail, starting not only a friendship but a new plan as well.
The two women were soon making plans to move forward with their joint venture — Mermaid Adventures. Their goal was to bring the experience of being a mermaid, or even a shark, to the community while using their funds to support other people and organizations, such as the Domestic Abuse Council, throughout the region.
And while the idea is to have fun while swimming with a tail, the experience also encompasses several positive elements, including an educational part about conservation. Souch said that when they attend events, they also teach the importance of taking care of the planet and making that extra effort to pick up litter and throw away trash.
"We just try to drive home that this is our world that we share with so many things that are important," Souch said.
But teaching about conservation is only one part of their plan. The other part is being actively involved with cities and participating in events like beach cleanups.
"We're starting to plan a movement to keep Daytona clean and working with Port Orange City to keep Port Orange clean," Chase said. "And we are connected with the community and the cities and [want] to be a driving force for conservation and being aware of what you're doing."
In addition to this, the women have added another aspect to Mermaid Adventures: they want people who put on a tail to love themselves. Souch said that she has met people who told her they would try out a tail when they lost weight; Souch herself said she at first had reservations about trying on a tail after having a baby but realized there was no reason to be hesitant. Now she wants the people they work with to have confidence in themselves and instead use the tails as a way to promote self-love.
"We just want to make an impact; that's our goal — to leave a footprint," Chase said. "Being a part of our community, loving our community, that is our biggest thing, that is our goal, to just share the fun and the magic of being a mermaid."
