If you have followed my work for any length of time, you know that the sea is not just a setting in my books. It is a lifelong companion.
Before sailboats, before circumnavigation plans, and even before I ever imagined writing children’s books, there was marine life.
I began my college career at the University of North Carolina Wilmington with one clear goal: I wanted to be a marine biologist. UNCW sat right on the coast, and I was determined to be one of the people who studied, protected, and understood the ocean for a living. During those years, I spent multiple summers as a camp counselor on the North Carolina coast, teaching marine biology to children. We worked closely with the North Carolina Marine Resources Center, and I regularly took my students on field trips to their facilities. That world felt like home. Studying life cycles, ecosystems, and the delicate balance of the ocean was not just coursework. It was a calling.
Life, however, had other plans.
After my first semester, I left UNCW and returned to Charlotte, where I had gone to high school and where my parents still lived. I missed my horses. I missed the farm life that had shaped me just as deeply as the ocean had. I continued my education at UNC Charlotte, only fifteen minutes from home, but I had to change majors. Marine biology was no longer an option.
So I did the next best thing.
Every semester, without fail, I enrolled in a scuba diving course.
Those classes took me to the Cayman Islands, where some of the most breathtaking marine ecosystems in the world exist. While others logged dives for certifications, I logged experiences. I studied coral, fish behavior, currents, and underwater geography on my own. I learned by observing. I learned by being still in the water and letting the ocean reveal itself. At the time, I did not realize how foundational those experiences would become.
Shortly after graduation, I met my husband, Dan.
We were married less than a year later. Life moved quickly. We moved to New Jersey, built a horse farm, raised a family, and marine life quietly stepped into the background. Not forgotten, but patiently waiting. As it turns out, I married a sailor. The very weekend we met, we made two promises: that we would get married, and that someday, we would sail around the world.
Decades later, after the last of our three children was married and settled, we kept that promise.
We sold the farm. We sold nearly everything we owned. We bought our sailboat and began our circumnavigation. And just like that, my marine biology dream came full circle. Dan is an avid diver as well, so we brought our scuba gear and a dive compressor onboard. That meant we could dive anywhere in the world we sailed. No schedules. No permits. No gates. Just the ocean, waiting.
Working in a marine resource center would have been incredible. But living as neighbors to the sea, diving at will, and witnessing marine life across the globe is a dream I could never have imagined as a college student sitting in a classroom. The ocean did not disappear from my life. It simply waited until I was ready to meet it again on different terms.
It makes perfect sense that, as The Nautical Novelist, I would eventually find a way to bring my love of marine life into my writing.
Seanna is that bridge.
Winner of the Golden Wizard Award for outstanding children’s literature!
While I have not officially seen any mermaids while diving, I have encountered all the creatures that appear in my books. The settings, the currents, the coral walls, and the rhythms of underwater life are all drawn from real experience. As the series grows, I will continue weaving real ocean science, real ecosystems, and real environmental concepts into these stories. In doing so, I am finally fulfilling my very first dream: educating young people about the wonder, beauty, and responsibility of life beneath the sea.
Below is the full excerpt from Seanna. Help support our journey and order a copy today! Swimming up soon is the next book in my Mermaid Tails series – Marlin.
Excerpt from Seanna
The swim to the wall was not a long one. Along the way, Seanna’s mom educated her about names, life cycles, and why each species was important to the environment. The circle of life in the ocean was all connected. It was the job of the merpeople to be the guardians of this world. The passing along of this knowledge was a merperson’s most important job.
As the two of them swam closer to the drop-off, Seanna could feel the cold flow of water rising from the depths. As the current flowed upward it spilled onto the shallower ocean floor. Hand in hand, Seanna and her mother met the cold current flowing toward them. They had to kick a little harder to swim into it and reach the ridge.
The ocean floor dropped straight down forming the giant cliff. Seanna and her mother paused to look out into the immense void stretching before them. There was no bottom in sight, just an endless stretch of deep blue water with fingers of light straining to reach into the murky void.
“And what do we look for before going down the wall?” Seanna’s mom quizzed.
“We look for any signs of boats on the surface or hungry sharks that might be looking for a snack,” Seanna teased.
Seanna’s mom pinched her cheeks and ruffled her hair as it spun around her arms and shoulders as if it had a will of its own.
“Silly girl. We do look for boats but you know that we don’t fear sharks, whales, or any creatures of the sea.”
“But they are so grumpy, Momma. How do I know one won’t come up behind me and take a bite out of my fin?”
“Because if he does, I will find him and knock all of his teeth out. We are the top of the food chain and all creatures who live in the ocean know this. We are faster, smarter, and more dangerous than any shark. They are born knowing that.”
“Well, I still don’t trust them,” Seanna protested, treading water with ease as the two of them gazed out into the endless blue horizon.
“Look, Momma!” Seanna squealed with delight.
A small pod of dolphins was heading toward them from the distant blue seascape, returning after a hunting trip to find the schools of fish that lived in the deeper water. Of all the creatures in the ocean, Seanna loved dolphins most of all. She desperately wanted to frolic, pet, and play with the pod headed toward them but her mother took her hand and pulled her down the wall.
“Later, sweetheart. You can have all afternoon to go find some dolphins to play with. We have work to do on the wall and you have many things still to learn.”
“Aw, Momma,” Seanna sighed as her mother pulled her down into the rapidly dropping temperatures. She twisted in her mother’s grasp to watch the playful, happy dolphins dance and skirt above her.
A few minutes’ swim down the wall, Seanna’s mom let go of her hand and paused to hover in front of a beautiful sea fan. It undulated like a tree in a strong breeze from the steady flow of water rising up from the depths below. Seanna wrapped her arms around her shoulders and shivered as her mom quizzed her on its name and why it was important. She had to tell her mom what species of animals depended on the sea fan.
Many times, the merpeople moved and transplanted plants and animals. The ocean was their garden and they were its gardeners. They cultivated and cared for all living things in their environment to make sure the ocean survived and stayed healthy and strong. This job was becoming more and more difficult as man and his pollution were killing fish and life in their great ocean. It made the work of the merpeople more important than ever. Even though they were guardians and caretakers of the ocean, their survival also depended on a healthy ocean.
Seanna’s lesson ended with her and her mother transplanting some small brain coral to a spot in their city that needed replenishing. Seanna was starving, especially after spending hours in water that was colder than she was used to. Her mom finally left her to scurry along and find some clams for lunch. Her mom headed off to find elders with whom she would share information about their day’s work.
Thank you for being part of this journey, both above and below the surface. If you have ever loved the ocean, wondered what lives beneath the waves, or dreamed of a life shaped by curiosity and exploration, Seanna was written for you.
Fair winds and following seas,
Alison Gieschen
Check out our sailing blog: Sailmates.org for real-life sea stories!
