She wants to be where the people are, she wants to see… wants to see them walking around her housing complex’s pool while she flaps in a pool in her mermaid costume. But one woman’s dreams of swimming freely is being dashed by her local community board, which calls her custom-made silicon mermaid suit a breach of the “no fin” policy.

“It makes me feel amazing makes children smile makes adults smile, everybody happy, you don’t expect to see a mermaid at the pool,”  the woman tells Fox 13 in Tampa Bay.

And while at least one of her neighbors is a fan of her swim routine (“I’m a 48-year-old man and I get a big smile on my face seeing her swim,” said a neighbor), her community board told her she can’t wear the outfit in the pools at her housing complex.

“We love what’s she trying to do, be kind to children and do something good for the community. We love her intentions — it’s simply that it violates rules,” said board chair.

Them’s the rules, but the woman says her flapping won’t do any harm.

“This can’t come flinging off in a pool like swim fin, and it’s not made of a hard plastic,” she explained.

Although her dreams of swimming among the two-legged won’t be coming true right now, she’s still holding on to the hope that she’ll one day be able to swim underwater at the Florida Aquarium.

Flap over fins lands mermaid in hot water [FOX 13]

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