Hi Natasha, yes, there is a story behind this - actually, multiple stories. My first wife, Karen, and I frequently visited the BVI, usually diving off bareboats (i.e. sailboats you rent without a crew. THis is the best way to see the wonderful BVI Islands). In 1996. we spent nearly half a year on a sailboat boat there, just the two of us (very romantic). Karen was always intrigued by the elegance of mermaids and had herself a golden mermaid wetsuit made. It worked exceptionally well, she was strong and fast -much faster than me in my two fins - and incredibly graceful. She dove on the Chikuzen wearing this suit and on about 100 other dives, also in the South Pacific. We had to cut short out trip because she got sick. It turned out to be pancreatic cancer, and she soon passed away!
Two years later, in 1999, I met Dr. Anita Borg, who became my second wife. She is the lady in the (turquoise) mermaid divesuit on the Rhone wreck. She loved diving like this as much as Karen did. Anita passed away from brain cancer, in April this year. A big memorial will be held for her next month, where we expect more than a thousand women working in high tech to attend....
Last week I finally finished editing the many hours of underwater videos of these two wonderful women diving as mermaids and turned it into a rather stunning DVD (to quote some scuba-diving friends).
cheers /www (these are just my initials, i.e. Winfried W.W)
