Chapter One–Out to Sea

            It was a beautiful fall day and Bobby’s father had just finished asking him where he wanted to go for his eleventh birthday. It was only two weeks away and they needed to make some plans. “Anywhere you want to go, anywhere at all,” his dad said with a big smile.

            Bobby thought and thought. He’d always wanted to go to Disneyland or to Sea World, he’d heard many of his friends talk about the wonderful time they’d had there. He had never been to a large amusement or animal park, only to his small town carnival and local zoo. But Bobby’s teacher, Mrs. Wilson, had just finished reading a wonderful book to his class about the adventure of deep sea fishing, and now he suddenly decided that was what he wanted to do.

            After she finished the story she spoke about the ocean, about it being like a whole different world under the water, with mountains and valleys and all kinds of sea creatures. She’d sailed with her dad as a girl, and she loved the feel and smell of the salty air blowing in her face. She loved the ocean and the way a sailboat skims the waves without a sound, except for a swish-swish as the boat slides silently through the water. As Mrs. Wilson talked about her deep-sea adventures with her father, Bobby imagined himself in her place.

            When Bobby told his father he wanted to go deep-sea fishing on a sailboat, his dad almost fell over in shock!

            “Deep-sea fishing on a sailboat! Where in the world did you get that idea?” he asked.

            “Don’t you remember, Dad? The book Mrs. Wilson’s been reading to us in class, the book I’ve been telling you about,” he replied.

           Bobby’s dad scratched his head with a puzzled look on his face, “Well, I did tell you we’d go anywhere you wanted to go, so deep sea fishing it is! But son, I think most deep-sea fishing is done from a motorboat, not a sailboat. I’ll have to look around and see if I can find someone with a sailboat to take us out.”