On Whale Island

Daniel Hays always wanted to live at sea, away from civilization. After he and his father built a boat and sailed it around Cape Horn, he thought he had put his wanderlust to rest. He went back to school, bought a house, got married. But in the real world, he felt lost. So he bought an island, built a house, packed up his wife and stepson and two dogs and three boatloads of supplies, and moved there. For a year. For Daniel, every morning is a wonder, every storm a blood-coursing thrill. But even as he's loving this permanent boy's life, his wife is growing impatient. It's time, she tells him, to return to the real world. Funny, tender, and fascinating, filled with the details of a life built piece by piece, this is the story of how the Hays family lived on Whale Island, and why they finally had to leave. Daniel Hays is the co-author, with his father, of the bestseller My Old Man and the Sea. He holds a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon do, a master's degree in environmental science, and a captain's license for boats rated up to twenty-five tons. He lives in Idaho but still owns Whale Island. And Whale Island still owns him. Reader Bruce Altman has appeared in films including L.I.E., Glengarry Glen Ross, and Regarding Henry.