Mako Island

Mako's Aerial view

“	Mako Island was here long before all of us, and it will be here long after we've all gone. And long after this full moon.	”
	— Louise Chatham[src]

Mako Island was an ancient and mysterious island that was located in the waters of the Coral Sea, approximately 50 km off the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, and was partially created from the impact of a celestial object in antiquity.

Around Mako there are the largest population of Mako sharks and sea turtles, some of which cannot be found anywhere else on Earth. Off-shore there are coral reef sands and a number of wrecks, including Louise Chatham's former boat, the Lorelei. On the northern side of the island there is a place called Drayton's Reef, its a known as place where sharks breed. Throughout history, there have been peculiar happenings around Mako, such as a whirlpool and numerous ship wrecks and disappearances, giving Mako an eerie reputation.

In ancient times, the very first mystical Moon Pool located at the heart of Mako Island became the magical source of hundreds of Southern mermaids and mermen who took refuge and came to live on its reef. If a human being comes into the Moon Pool when the Full Moon passes over, they will undergo Metamorphosis into a merperson. He or she will be also gifted with special powers over water. Those merpeople native from the sea are born with all Merpeople Powers, including the standard water-based and weather powers. It is also known that if a land person somehow absorbs Moon Water, they will get those standard powers but as long it remains inside his or her physical system.

Story

Part of the island was formed from an impact of a celestial object in antiquity. With the creation of Mako Island, the first Moon Pool was established at its heart. A pod of Southern merpeople took over Mako Island. They established their residence on the island's large, shark-infested reefs and still rules over Mako Island, and used the Moon Pool for their rituals. It was believed that several of its shards impacted in other places of the world, creating another Moon Pool in a set of sea caves at the Irish coast, and presumably other moon pools across the globe.

Pre-Series

One thousand years ago, a merman pod tried to took over Mako Island from the Mako Pod, and initiated a war in order to achieve their purpose. It was by this time that the Trident was created, and the mermen originally planned to use it to destroy and kill any mermaid who appeared in their way. Armies of mermaids from the five oceans battled with them, however, they almost perished until a merman (that was Zac's ancestor) knew what they were doing was wrong, and betrayed his fellow mermen pod members and joined the mermaids. They eventually won the war and the Trident was sealed away in the Trident Cave to prevent a similar situation to happen again. Afterwards, all mermen became enemies to mermaids worldwide due to this, were exhiled and forced to flee on land by them and went through adoption into a foster human family as hatchlings.

In the 1950's, humans Louise Chatham, Gracie and Julia somehow found trapped themselves at the sea cave where the Moon Pool is located. Once they got into it, the Full Moon rised and bathed the pool in light, undergoing the teenagers into Metamorphosis. Some time later after becoming mermaids, they all were almost exposed when Karl, Julia's boyfriend, snapped some photos of Julia's true form while she was swimming, however, Louise threw his camera into the sea and their secret was protected once again. Despite this, Karl still tried to convince the townspeople that the trio were mermaids, but humans didn't believe him and the girls were once more safe.

Julia angrily broke up with Karl, never forgiving him, and her friendship with Gracie and Louise was re-established. It is unknown what happened to him afterwards. Years later, in 1957, Gracie became tired of her boyfriend, Max Hamilton's obsession with her true identity and his theories, that she intentionally gave up her life as a mermaid forever at the Moon of Fifty Years. She tossed away her locket and broke up with Max, however, it is unknown if it was before or after the dangerous power-stripping Full Moon. However, when Gracie was an ordinary girl once more, she and her best-friends Louise Chatham and Julia ended their friendship and Max was left behind as well.

Through the Series

H2O: Just Add Water

Season 1

In 2006, Emma Gilbert, Cleo Sertori and Rikki Chadwick accidentally found themselves trapped in Mako Island. While looking for a mobile signal, they fall into a cave. Emma realizes an alternative way to get out of it and they come into the Moon Pool just as the Full Moon was passing by, and the girls undergo Metamorphosis completely unaware of what was happening.

Days later Emma found a locket at the bottom of the Moon Pool. Linda Denman, a marine biologist, arrives to Mako, in order to study fish in the reefs around it. She and her team discover the Moon Pool and, with the help of underwater cameras, she discovers that Cleo, Emma and Rikki are mermaids. Louise Chatham, a mermaid from the past, reveals that during a lunar eclipse, the Moon Pool will react and unleash a different kind of magic that will deprive any merperson who is in it of their powers and abilities (although she later tells Lewis, but not the girls, that it's only temporary). Due do this, the girls were able to deceive Denman and her team, who believes their tails and abilities were gone forever, and they all leave city. Twelve hours later the girls again change to mermaids when they come in contact with water.

Season 2

During a special planetary alignment, Cleo, Emma, and Rikki get moonstruck, and go to the Moon Pool in a very special full moon, which results them gaining weather powers. Charlotte became aware of her grandmother's past and becomes a mermaid jumping in the Moon Pool when the Full Moon was up. As she herself alone, Charlotte got all mermaid powers. She also believes she is a "super mermaid" and takes Cleo's locket, claiming that it was her grandmother's and now it was hers. Max tells Lewis about the Moon of Fifty Years and how it can deprives mermaids of their tails and abilities forever. Charlotte devises a plan and goes to Mako Island during the Full Moon despite the girls warning her about it earlier. There she battles with the girls, but loses, and is stripped of her powers and abilities in the same way as her grandmother Gracie, fifty years earlier.

Season 3

When the Comet Eva returned to Earth in 2009, a strange waterfall appeared in the Moon Pool creating a Water Tentacle, that was trying to attack the mermaids. Later, it is revealed that the tentacle was only trying to warn the mermaids about it. The comet entered the atmosphere on February 7th which was the same day when the water first attacked Cleo, Rikki, and Bella. Later, they all graduates high school and leave Gold Coast, well into young adulthood and possibly college.

Mako: Island of Secrets

Season 1

Years later, Zac discovers a tunnel entrance on a full moon, which leads him into the Moon Pool when he touches the symbol at the end of the cave. He and the mermaids Lyla, Sirena, and Nixie later discover a weapon stored inside: a trident left behind after a war between mermaids and mermen. After a brief rivalry, Zac and the mermaids come together to stop a land boy named Cam from becoming a merman and bringing the Trident into the Moon Pool, which would destroy it by its active time period.

Season 2

Evie McLaren, Zac's girlfriend, becomes a mermaid when she swims into the Moon Pool to save her boyfriend from the new mermaids, Mimmi and Ondina. They later discover a merman chamber hidden in a different location on the island. It was an ancient chamber designed by mermen during the ancient war to strip the Moon Pool off its magic, along with the magic and life of every mermaid across the world. Merman Erik, refusing to believe it wasn't meant for more, stole the trident stone to activate the chamber and almost drained the lives of all mermaids. Zac manages to shut down the chamber permanently.

Season 3

Evie, Mimmi, and Ondina are on their way to the Full Moon Ceremony when they encounter the Water Dragon. Fortunately a Chinese mermaid, Weilan, joins and helps them. Evie loses her tail to the Water Dragon when she tries to help Zac. Eventually they find out that the Water Dragon is actually Nerissa, Mimmi and Zac Blakely's mother.

Features

Mako Island's Moon Pool can turn any human that stays in it into a merperson, when the Full Moon passes over, granting them all merperson powers if someone enters alone. When two or more people enters, the Moon Pool grants them individual powers as it chooses. It can be guessed that different Moon Pools will give different water-based powers. The Mako Island's Moon Pool grants the powers of Hydrokinesis, Hydro-Cryokinesis and Hydro-Thermokinesis, also known as the three original water-based powers.

The water in all Moon Pools appears normal to scientific experiement, but is a type of magical Moon Water, which holds the power of the moon itself. All active Moon Pools itselves are the only known counter-spells of the Tailless Spell. There is a potion of full moon magic amplified by fifty which has to be used on a merperson in the Moon Pool during the regular Full Moon and another merperson could use it to extract another human-metamorphosed-merperson's powers.

All Moon Pools around the Earth generate different magnetism and effects depending on the moon's phases and the planetary alignments. The known effects are as follows:

• Lunar Eclipse: During a Lunar Eclipse, any human-turned merperson would be stripped of their tailed true selves and magical powers by twelve hours if they are in the waters of any active Moon Pool during this event, temporarily restoring their old human selves once more. After this period, the Eclipse's effects on a merperson will wear off on their own and their tailed true selves and abilities will be fully restored.

• The Moon of Weather Magic: Also known as the Elemental Moon, during a rare planetary alignment, the moon will increase the water-affiliated powers of any human-turned merperson, granting them the weather and elemental powers if they are in the waters of any active Moon Pool during the event.

• The Moon of Fifty Years: At every fifty years another planetary alignment takes place when all the planets are lined up with the moon. During the Moon of Fifty Years, any human-turned merperson would be stripped permanently of their tailed true selves and all of their magical powers if they are in the waters of any active Moon Pool during this event, ultimately restoring their old human selves once more. It is unknown if they can undergo metamorphosis again after their human self is restored, though it seems unlikely.

• Comet Collision: When a comet comes within range of collision with a Moon Pool, the pool itself undergoes changes. The known effects are only proven in the Mako Island Pool, but historical data can suggest similar effects in the Irish Pool. These are as follows:
  • A rise in temperature in the air and the water of the Pool and surrounding cave;
  • A tentacle generated to warn nearby merpeople of the impending danger;
  • The ability to display a projection to merpeople of the events to come in order to warn them;
  • The power to magnify the powers of any merperson in order to help divert the course of the comet.

• Seventh Lunar Cycle: During a seventh lunar cycle in the life of a new-born or a recently human-turned merman hatchling, it was believed that a fledgling merman's magical powers and connection to the specific Moon Pool that served as the source of their metamorphosis was to escalate to greater levels of strength than before. It was not known whether this cycle was truly cyclical, and could be repeated more than once in a fledgling's lifetime.

Merpeople native from the sea are immune to all of these events, and they only have temporary or permanent effects on their kind that once were humans (as sea-born mermaids do not have a human form, despite do possesses the ability to grant themselves one with a Moon Ring).

Trivia

• An island similar to Mako Island is seen in The Bureau of Magical Things. It is described to be part of Lemuria.
• These places were believed to be formed after an impact of the celestial body in antiquity. It formed a part of what became known as Mako Island, and other of its pieces were believed to impact other places of the globe and creating alternative Moon Pools across the globe, including a set of sea caves at the Irish coast.
• In H2O: Just Add Water, Emma states the underwater entrance to Mako's Moon Pool is fifty meters deep, which makes impossible for a human such as Lewis to come through it without underwater gear. In Mako: Island of Secrets, when Evie asked Cam about the entrance itself, he states it to be six meters deep, which allows her to pass through while holding her breath for several minutes.
• According to Weilan, Mako Island's Moon Pool is famous among merpeople, even across the globe.

Gallery

Main article: Mako Island/Gallery

See Also

• Sea Caves of Ireland
• Tower of Light
• Water Tentacle
• Merpeople
• Lockets
• Crystals
• Full Moon
• Moon Pool
• Trident Cave
• Merman Chamber