Marine biologist Beth Ann Mathews’s award-winning book, Deep Waters: A Memoir of Loss, Alaska Adventure, and Love Rekindled (She Writes Press, May 2023) is a gripping story of how a crisis can promote relationship resilience and spur a family to undertake a sailing adventure more bold than they would have considered if the crisis had not occurred. Mathews, who grew up in the Midwest, was a professor at the University of Alaska Southeast for 20 years, where she taught courses in biology, behavioral ecology, and marine mammalogy and led research on harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and harbor porpoises. She also studied humpback, gray, and sperm whales and—briefly—sleeper sharks, and led undergraduate research programs on board tall ships in the Gulf of Maine. Beth and her husband live on Bainbridge Island, Washington and enjoy expeditions on their Contest 44 ketch, which plays a pivotal role in Deep Waters, as does their nine-year-old son. Jim and Beth consider their sailboat, which they’ve owned for 31 years, a member of the family.