Kim rolled her eyes as she listened to the video for possibly the thousandth time likely more. It was going over the safety requirements that the company she worked for was providing their welcome guests.
“And remember to stay together when you are out on the water and to keep your life jackets on whenever you are on the boat and out in the water taking in the beautiful coral reef you will be visiting today.” Said the women on the training video, was that Marget or Mary…thought Kim, maybe one of the old timers knew but the video was at least five or six years old and most people only worked this job during the summer or while attending school at the college.
“We got all full boat today.” whispered her boss as he stood behind the counter looking at the 24 tourists who where all watching the video.
“Great.” Said Kim, that meant a fast turnaround. The moment a boat came back they would load up another group and head right back. She would probably have to have lunch on the boat itself, it did take about 20 minutes to get to the reef.
“You, Nancy, Roy and Tom will be taking the first boat out today, Mike will be the captain and stay with the boat.” said the boss.
“Ok, better go get ready.” confirmed Kim, as she headed toward the staff locker rooms in the back. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her job, taking people out on tours of the coral reef and it was helping her with her grad work but having so much time to observe and study the reef. Still, she would have liked it better if she had a day off now and again.
She walked back into the women’s locker room and got ready, she pulled her brown hair back into a tight not and put on the bright red one-piece swimsuit with the company’s logo on it. Her fitted life vest was hanging in her open-air locker along with her snorkel gear and two pairs of fins. Maybe she would wear the mermaid fin today still she took both.
She looked at herself in the mirror, she thought she was above average in looks, fit thanks to all the swimming she did even if she was lacking a bit in the chest department. Still, it didn’t seem to help her find a partner and she had been unlucky in love.
She slipped on her sandals and walked out to the ship…well boat it was a rather large pontoon boat with multiple rows of seating and a large overhead covering to help provide some shade from the sun.
“Morning Kim.” said Nancy as the short women, one of the oldest guilds and that was saying something since she was only in her mid-30s sat in one of the four guild chairs beside the captain’s chair. Their chairs were slightly nicer then the guests chairs and had more shade.
“Morning Nancy.” said Kim as she put her stuff in the small locker under her chair. “We got a full house.”
“I heard.” confirmed Nancy, looking at the clip board with everyone's name and party size on it.
“Any idea what kind?” inquired Roy as he applied some waterproof sunscreen to himself, he looked like a stereotypical surfer due. Black sunglasses combed back black hair which head blonde highlights on and overall a fit form.
“I just saw them, looks like a mix of families and college kids.” Stated the last guide, a tall and lanky man whose pitch-black skin didn’t require all that much in the way of sunscreen. The man was Tom, and age wise sat maybe a year or two ahead of Kim.
“Great.” Stated Nancy “I don’t know which worse, little kids is screaming or drunk/hung over college kids.”
“Hard to say.” confirmed Kim as the guests started to board, there was a good mix. “So everyone takes six?”
“Sounds like a plan.” confirmed Nancy
“Alright, lets get going.” said Mike as the old man, a local retiree got aboard and started the engine.
“Welcome onboard.” said Mike over a speaker system. “We would like to welcome you to Mermaid Views Reef Tours. For those who are new, I am Captain Mike and I will be your driver today, it is about a 20 minute drive to our anchor point and from there our lovely guilds will take you around the coral reef. Once done we will gather you all up and head back home. Overall we will be on the water for around 90 minutes with almost an hour spent out in the reef looking at all the wonders of the sea. Now everyone sit back and relax as we head out to sea and who knows maybe your see a mermaid or merman out in the water.”
It was always the same line, seeing a mermaid or merman out in the water, little did anyone on the boat know that today that was going to be true.