Boy…..how do I even begin this post?….

I have a list of things I want to see/do/visit/photograph while I’m on this earth, some that happen in New York, and ever since I heard of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade a few summers ago, I knew I had to go and see this crazy parade with my own eyes.

Packed to the brim, I rode the Q train down to the second to last stop on the line, the NY Aquarium, and tried to figure out where in this sea of people I could catch a good view of the parade.

The streets and boardwalk were just as packed on this beautiful, sunny and cloudless Saturday as any train platform at 5:00pm on a weekday. PACKED. Like sardines in a can. Like the train I had just taken to Coney Island. Sigh.

Alas, along with several hundred (if not thousands) of people, I made my way to the boardwalk and little by little, made my way to the front row of the parade route. I went alone and I was very lucky to stand next to 2 very funny couples – we all ended up giving names to each of the mermaids that came down the route, including “goth mermaid,” “papa smurf mermaid,” “lazy mermaid,” “pissed off at BP mermaid,” and a slew of other names, each given according to the participant’s costume.

Andy Warhols, complete with cameras and wigs.

In case you’re scratching your head and trying to figure out this image, it’s a man who was wearing a shark in between his legs.

In all this, I had heard of the crazy costumes and seen some photos but I had no idea I would be seeing so many pasties and a few bare breasts here and there.

It just so happened that we were standing next to this metal structure covered in blue, silk-like material – little did we know that this was the platform for some aerial silk performers, so we had not one, but TWO shows we could see from our vantage point, so I was able to catch a few shots of these beautiful, strong women who made dancing in the air look so easy!

A few more shots from the day…..