How do you unlock the mermaid island?

[toradora101]

I did the thing it said on the main website and it didn't work. I stayed until I was low on air, then I returned to the surface because I only had 2 hours of air left. She automatically returned to surface. What did I do wrong?

[Ricalynn]

You can invite the mermaid over to your house if you think that would be safer. Just remember to let the mermaid steer the conversation and to be at least good friends or better with them.  They also can't be controlled by you.

[toradora101]

I did what it said in the guide.
I even did what one of the mods said.

And nothing. It's not working. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

Help ? 

[Ricalynn]

Since you already have a thread about this subject I'm going to merge them together.

Have you tried getting a different mermaid to do it?  Meeting a new mermaid and becoming friends with them?

[Shirin]

I would second Rica's recommendation.

In addition, could you provide a detailed explanation of what you're doing? Click by click, sort of thing. I've successfully found the island within 5 minutes of idling, multiple times.

What I do: Invite the mermaid over; form group; go to a dive spot with group; friendly>chat; friendly>get to know - then I remove my hands from the keyboard/mouse and just wait.

Going to the dive spot with the group is my personal preference, but as Rica said, doing it on dry land is just as effective. Don't return them to the surface just because of the air, as long as freewill is on high, they'll automatically surface on their own.

[toradora101]

I would second Rica's recommendation.

In addition, could you provide a detailed explanation of what you're doing? Click by click, sort of thing. I've successfully found the island within 5 minutes of idling, multiple times.

What I do: Invite the mermaid over; form group; go to a dive spot with group; friendly>chat; friendly>get to know - then I remove my hands from the keyboard/mouse and just wait.

Going to the dive spot with the group is my personal preference, but as Rica said, doing it on dry land is just as effective. Don't return them to the surface just because of the air, as long as freewill is on high, they'll automatically surface on their own.

I do the same thing. Since my sim and the mermaid are already best friends. But I didn't chat with them. I just basically did nothing. But the mermaid didn't talk to me. It just looked at coral and stuff.

I think next time I signal the mermaid I'm just going to stay on land and talk to her and see if it works.

[Shirin]

Do no more than 3 interactions! This is crucial, because if you keep queuing up conversations, then the mermaid will never have the chance to show the island.

[Joria]

You can invite the mermaid over to your house if you think that would be safer. Just remember to let the mermaid steer the conversation and to be at least good friends or better with them.  They also can't be controlled by you.

So my Sims new spouse, King Triton, won't unlock Mermaid Island for her?  Bummer!

[Shirin]

Nope, but they can both make friends with other mermaids who will!

[toradora101]

Nope, but they can both make friends with other mermaids who will!

Yeah.This didnt work for me at all.

I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

[katalina549]

I figured it out!

I was having the same problem. I was doing everything right. My household was friends/best friends with at least four mermaids. They hung out for hours on end, at home or scuba diving. I didn't touch the mouse: I let them do their automatic interactions.
Nothing.
Then, as I was navigating MasterController (I have to use Nraas's MasterController, OverWatch, and ErrorTrap to keep the game from being a lag-tastic glitch fest) I realized that the game considered my mermaid friends to be part of my household for some reason. So I temporarily uninstalled my Nraas mods (moved their package files to the desktop), started my game back up, went scuba diving with a couple of my merbuddies, and BLAMMO. Maya Ocean showed me the way to Mermaid Secret Island!
Mastercontroller and the other Nraas mods I mentioned have been game-saving magical blessings from the computer gods, but for whatever reason, they seemed to mess up that one particular interaction. Try temporarily moving their files to another place on your computer and trying again, if you play with those mods and you've been having that problem.