Girl Overboard

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Swimsuit: check. Flip-flops: check. scuba gear: check. leaving behind a longtime boyfriend: not so easy. Marina has been waiting her whole life to get out on the open sea. And now that she’s studying abroad on a luxury yacht in the Caribbean, her dreams are finally coming true. she loves the feel of the sun on her face, the sand between her toes, and the island music swaying over her. And even better, she’s getting hands-on marine biology experience swimming alongside dolphins in the Bahamas, sharks in the bay islands, and sea turtles in the Dominican Republic! but while her experiences tell her she’s in exactly the right place, her boyfriend wants her home in Vermont. And her distractingly cute Aussie boatmate couldn’t disagree more. As the island heat rises, Marina must decide once and for all where her heart is–on land or at sea.Aimee Ferris spent five sun-soaked years in the Caribbean, where she trained dolphins, swam with whale sharks, transplanted sea turtle eggs, did well over a thousand SCUBA dives . . . and only fell overboard once. She’s hung up her surfshorts to live happily landlocked with her island boy Nakoa, the best thing to ever come out of the Caribbean. Visit her at http://aimee-ferris.livejournal.com or e-mail her at aimeeferris@gmail.com.Under the sea . . .

Marina looked across the broad flat back of the whale shark’s body and gently touched its side. She drew her hand back at the surprising coarse sandpaper texture. It looked so smooth!

The shark must have been five or six feet wide. There were several sharklike remora fish no more than a foot or so long attached to the underside of the whale shark. They slid around but stayed suckered on by their mouths—parasites waiting for a free meal. Rhee was on the other side flailing around and trying to stay upright while fiddling to get water out of her snorkel mask.

Marina ignored her and kicked farther up and over the checked pattern of stripes and spots across the whale shark’s three back ridges to inspect the small eye on the side of its head. She laughed out loud in delight, sending a plume of water shooting out of her snorkel tube. She was underwater. In the Caribbean. Looking into the eye of the biggest fish in the world! She grabbed Link’s passing hand and squeezed it. She just had to share the high of the experience. His mouth grinned around the snorkel mouthpiece, and together they kicked up the length of the shark. Her body was tingling from snorkel tube to fin tip.

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