Javier Claramunt was scuba diving off Catalina Island with his father and friend Pablo Avila last weekend, when Pablo lost consciousness near the end of the dive.
All were extremely well-trained and experienced divers, so both Javier and his father’s training kicked in, and they began the process of rescuing their buddy. When out of nowhere a bunch of mermaids showed up around them.
Yes, mermaids. It turns out that a group of women training for the advanced PADI mermaid rescue course nearby realized the diver was in trouble.
Elaina Marie Garcia, who is also a highly experienced scuba diver and instructor, explains that the sport has become so popular, swimming with a mermaid tail, that large groups have formed.
Elaina runs the group out of Catalina and the group just happened to be the one who noticed Pablo in distress as they were practicing rescue scenarios.
The group swam to the divers, got Pablo’s gear off, while giving him mouth to mouth, and towed him back to the stair entry at Casino Point where paramedics were waiting.
Pablo was taken to the island’s decompression chamber, where he regained consciousness after several hours of decompression and he is recuperating well.
He knows his buddies would have probably gotten him to shore just fine, but hey, he can now brag about being saved by mermaids.
Thank you to Mary in Hillsboro for sharing this story with us. If you have a Happy News story please let us know!