Blue Water Adventure is based on a true story. The author’s personal experience as a Florida commercial fisherman and the people he lived and worked with provide the basis for this novel. He has cleverly included individual photos, which give the novel a personal touch.

Raymond James and his father Bol trap Florida lobster (crawfish) for a living. Leaving their home in Florida to escape crawfish thieves, they move to the Virgin Islands. Life in paradise is good until once again, crawfish pirates steal their catch and they are forced to take the law into their own hands.  The story takes us from Florida, to the Virgin Islands, Bahamas and back to Florida over a span of about twenty years. Boats get bigger and airplanes are added. The temptation of large sums of money beacons to our weary fisherman. Drug lords, pirates and island life mix and mingle to create an exciting novel by author, Rick Magers.

Characters are lively and entertaining. Rita also known as “Little Bug”, Raymond’s island girl adds sparkle and wit to the dialogue. Ray’s best friend, Bangor, provides comedy relief. Roland, Becky and the many crewmen are real life characters with interesting pasts, all forming a melting pot of spicy camaraderie and conflict. Island jargon and local expressions are peppered throughout the dialogue bringing the Caribbean settings to life.

Rick Mager’s experience with crawfish trapping along with his extensive research, provide an in depth, highly detailed look at the industry. The original book was more than 600 pages. The printer’s choice of a large font, made the book unnecessarily bulky. The final product published by Grizzly Bookz is shorter and less epic in proportion, improving the readability.

All in all a good read with lots of excitement, adventure and romance—a good gift for the fishermen and boating enthusiast in your life.