How a Broken Ankle Made Him the next Aquaman 🌊

If you’ve ever felt like you didn’t fit the surface world, you’ll want to grab a cuppa (or a coconut) for this one. Because Afa Zhang’s story isn’t just about records and fancy monofins — it’s about healing, reinvention, and how the ocean can quite literally become your stage when everything else crumbles.

I’m Corinna, CEO and co-founder of MerMapp — and my husband and art director of MerMapp, and myself had the honor of sitting down with Afa during the Freediving World Championship in Wakayama, Japan. And wow, did his journey hit home.

🎭 From Dance Floors to Devastation

Afa’s story doesn’t start in the ocean. It starts on a dance floor.

As a teenager, Afa was all-in on dance. No plan B, no backup. Eight to ten hours of daily rehearsals, school abandoned, every bit of energy and every cent of money poured into movement and rhythm. He was laser-focused — and pretty darn amazing at it.

And then, one devastating slip: he broke his ankle. Just like that, the team he called family told him he was out. No place for an injured dancer. Brutal.

Imagine being 18 or 19, with your entire identity ripped away overnight. For Afa, it felt like the end of the world. He even tried to take his own life — that’s how deep the despair was.

🫧 A Brave Breath for Help

Luckily, Afa took a step that would save him: he saw a psychologist. It wasn’t easy, but it changed everything.
His therapist helped him see that there was more out there — that life had other oceans for him to swim in.

So he did something wild: he left the city life he’d always known and went off-grid.

🐬 The Freediving Boom — and a New Passion Unfolds

That’s when Afa found mermaiding — and underwater dance.

To him, mermaiding wasn’t just costumes and tails — it was a way to merge the precision of freediving with the creativity he’d lost when dance ended. And underwater dance? Well, that was his real sweet spot.

Afa’s underwater choreographies are simply mesmerizing — sometimes solo, sometimes dancing with a partner. The way he moves in water blends his dancer’s discipline with freediving’s fluid grace and mermaiding’s fantasy.

It’s a new art form that’s capturing more and more attention worldwide — and he’s one of the pioneers bringing it to life.

In his own words: “Mermaiding and underwater dance let me bring my art into the ocean.”

This is something I know so many of us feel, too. Mermaiding isn’t just about apnea skills — it’s about expression. Costumes, choreography, character. It’s about telling stories underwater.

And while most freedivers don’t care about striking a pose (unless they’re making an Instagram reel 😆), Afa leaned right in — and people noticed.

🧜‍♂️ Discovering Mermaiding & Underwater Dance — Where Art Meets Depth

Before we dive deep, here’s what you should know about Afa:
He’s one of Taiwan’s top freedivers, currently ranked #13 on the AIDA freediving list, having just broken his personal record and reaching a tail flipping 250 meters of monofin swimming in the dynamic apnea category. He’s also a pioneer merman blending professional freediving skills with mermaiding’s artistic magic — flipping stereotypes on their head and inspiring a whole new wave of ocean lovers.

🧜‍♂️ Meet Afa Zhang — Taiwan’s Trailblazing Merman

Freediving was just starting to take off in Taiwan and across Asia when Afa showed up. He rode that wave, training harder, pushing deeper. Competitions fed his hunger for challenge — something he knew so well from dance.

But here’s the twist: even freediving, with its records and rankings, eventually started to feel… routine. Predictable.

🌊 Breaking Stereotypes — And a Few Records, Too

Of course, being one of the first visible Asian mermen came with a few raised eyebrows.

“How can a man dress as a mermaid?”
Sound familiar? It’s that age-old question of “Who gets to belong here?”

Well, if you ask me (and clearly if you ask Afa): anyone.
He didn’t just push boundaries — he blew right past them. Bubble tricks with swords underwater, underwater dance performances, depth records in a tail, fusing monofin freediving technique with theatrical flair. His performances inspire people across genders, cultures, and generations.

When we met up with him at the Freediving World Championship, Afa had just smashed his personal record in Dynamic Apnea — an astonishing 250 meters on a single breath.
Talk about next-level lungs.

🍃 Healing in the Countryside — and a First Glimpse of the Sea

For the first time, Afa found himself surrounded by rice fields and ocean air instead of neon lights and dance studios. He spent his days helping with the harvest and his nights under the stars — a world away from the stage.

That’s where he first saw a small crew of locals going into the water — not as snorkelers, not as scuba divers, but freedivers. It wasn’t even official training — just a handful of ocean souls seeing how far they could push themselves underwater.

Now, remember, Afa couldn’t even swim at that point. But dancers are masters at observation and imitation — so he did what he knew best: he watched, he learned, and he dove in.

Within one month, he went from non-swimmer to diving 30 meters on a single breath.
That’s insane. And it didn’t go unnoticed — people started telling him: “This is your thing. Go for it.”

Sometimes life breaks us… so we can dive deeper.

🤝 Our Meeting in Japan — And Afa’s Big Dream

What struck me most about talking to Afa was how he views community. To him, the ocean is the bridge that connects us — no matter how different our surface lives look.

He told me he believes MerMapp is the kind of space that can help people find their next big thing — just like freediving and mermaiding saved him.

A place where you can stumble across a new hobby, make friends halfway across the globe, or simply heal a part of you that’s felt misunderstood for too long.

He’s now officially part of our MerAmbassadors, helping us spread that message. 🌍💙

🎟️ Want to Dive in with Afa?

If you want to join Afa’s pod — you can!
Use his exclusive code ‘taiwanmerafa’ when you sign up for MerMapp and you’ll get enough Pearls to cover your first premium month for free.

Who knows?
Maybe you’ll find a new passion, too.
Maybe you’ll just find a new friend who gets it.

Afa’s story is a reminder that when life forces us to the edge, sometimes the only way out is down — deep down, into the blue, where we can find ourselves all over again.

If you ever feel lost, stuck, or like the surface world doesn’t quite get you — know this: you have fins here.
Your pod is waiting.

And we’re swimming right beside you, one tail flip at a time.

✨ Stay salty, stay inspired, and keep making waves.

With fins & friendship,
Corinna
CEO & Co-founder of MerMapp 🧜‍♀️🌍

💙 Final Reflection — From Me, to You