Marina Melee

George H. Marshall III has it all, and he wants to get away from it--women, a busy social calendar, and his so-called career in the family oil business. So he does what any 43-year-old, thrice-divorced playboy would do: he sails away to the Caribbean. Determined to prove to his parents (and himself) that he is more than a spoiled, womanizing, over-aged adolescent, George buys Porto da Vida Marina on the small island of São Jorge.

Within days, George faces his first hurricane and its aftermath. Then he finds out that that was the easy part. Between his wayward staff, the governor's hot-to-trot wife, a lift truck possessed by jumbies, and a host of other island disasters--natural and human--George is working harder than ever. Little does he know that there is more to his struggles than his own incompetence. His mother, Liza-Beth Marshall-Hunter (of the Dallas Hunters), is doing everything she can to get her baby boy back home.

In no time at all, George finds himself entwined in the insanity of island politics and personalities. It's all more than he bargained for and he is ready to admit defeat and return home, the prodigal son. Then Noreen Roberts sails into his marina. A champion sailor on the Caribbean race circuit, Noreen is everything he has never wanted to be: Responsible, reliable, and hard-working. With her help, Porto da Vida begins to run smoothly--despite George. But when Nora catches George in a compromising position with a trio of young, bored socialites known as the Sand Witches, she leaves him to fend for himself.

George should be able to manage just fine without her, though. How hard can it be to run a marina on a tropical island?