The surfing community in Dakar, Senegal was a huge inspiration to me for the mermaid colony of Queen Awa Diop. As you’ll see below, the overall vibe of Dakar really works its way into the magic of the mermaids’ home in Senegal. Dakar is also quite cosmopolitan, so I fused global influences and anchored them at the bottom of the ocean to create something truly unique. Read on to discover how this incredible place worked its way into my heart and onto the page.

Rip Cure: Moussa’s Surf and Skate Shop

Prince Moussa Diop has an artistic and entrepreneurial streak. His big dream is to go global with his brand, Rip Cure. He can picture surfers and skaters around the world using his boards and custom-designed clothing. In fact, when we meet him, his mom, Queen Awa, happens to be in Hong Kong trying to secure funding for an expansion of the brand into new regions. Below is an excerpt about his first shop.

“Rip Cure looked more like an outpost at a Jimmy Buffet resort than it did the Dakar-based headquarters of a budding surf and skate empire. A young kid grabbed a board and waxed it, before heading toward a sign that read Plage. Gia parked her motorcycle between a row of beach huts and approached a group of men sitting around a driftwood table. A tall, thin black fellow stood to greet her.”

Mermaid of Sicily, Chapter 10

African Renaissance Monument

Standing at 160 feet tall, about the height of a sixteen-story building, the African Renaissance Monument is a powerful, bronze sculpture by Pierre Goudiaby Atepa. The scale of the statue is absolutely enormous. At the time of its completion in 2010, the Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade said that the monument was a testament to African liberation.

Here’s a bit about it from the book:

Oumar unloaded the surfboards from the bed of their Nissan pickup. Gia climbed into the back with her Hermès weekender. The men tried to talk Gia into sitting in the front, but she declined. The road was bumpy, and she cradled her belly, because it felt like the tiny mermaid growing inside of her was tumbling in the center of a wave. A motorcycle zipped by them on the crowded roadway carrying a trailer full of onions. They drove by a short hill capped with a statue of a couple holding a baby who pointed to the sky.

Moussa slid the back window open and played tour guide. “African Renaissance Monument,” he said, gesturing to the statue.

Mermaid of Sicily, Chapter 10

The Secret Entrance to the Mermaid Colony

In the Mermaid of Venice series, the world’s mermaids are big proponents of clean energy. Some see climate change as a huge threat to oceanic life, while other mermaids view it as the ocean’s revenge––an omen of a coming war.

In Senegal, the mermaids definitely fall into the first category. They build an enormous wind power farm in the middle of the ocean both to power their colony and to hide its existence. Read below a glimpse at how to arrive at the colony:

After twenty minutes, they arrived at a boat slip. They helped Gia into a motorboat and took off into the Atlantic Ocean. Their destination was an offshore wind farm, in the middle of which was a floating concrete pad housing a service station.

“Chez nous,” Oumar said, steering his boat toward the middle of the platform. The concrete opened and unfolded, revealing a water-powered boat lift. They sailed in and left the boat in its parking spot. After that, the platform closed itself automatically, concealing the boat. Then, Gia and her new friends boarded a glass elevator and were ferried into the deep sea via its electronic water shaft.

Mermaid of Sicily, Chapter 10

An Underwater Skyscraper

Slight cheat here, as this location is not in Senegal. I’ve always been fascinated by the Burj al Arab hotel, and I hope one day to visit Dubai and stay there. This building, which is almost the height of the Empire State, is the inspiration for the design of Prince Moussa’s underwater palace, the Coral Tower.

One of the things I love most about writing these books is the world building of the various mermaid colonies, and Senegal is no exception:

Once they arrived at the seafloor, Gia was able to take in the incredible architecture of the Senegalese colony. Moussa had overseen the renovation of the Coral Tower himself, taking inspiration for the underwater skyscraper from the Burj Al Arab, because he loved the whimsy of a colony of mermaids living in a metaphorical ship’s sail.

It had taken him thirty years to complete construction, and the result was stunning.

The building was crafted from old-fashioned steel, but the real magic in the design came from the glowing phytoplankton sculptures that twisted through the beams and held the whole structure together. Its architectural beauty far surpassed anything on land.

Along the way to the guest suites, Oumar pointed out special projects that he and Moussa were still completing.

“For Moussa, the work is never done,” he laughed. “He calls it ‘editing.’ I call it what it is... perfectionism.”

Moussa shot his husband a nasty look. “And who was it that insisted on crushed pearls in the terrazzo, hmmm?”

Mermaid of Sicily, Chapter 10