When a fictional character can help create an event, you know you have a hit book series.
Meet AJ Bailey, the fictional, spirited and adventurous dive shop owner of Mermaid Divers in the Cayman Islands, around whom USA Today best-selling author Nicholas Harvey has created a thriving book series and merchandise.
And in book 12 of the AJ Bailey series titled “The Wrecks of Key Largo,” AJ ventured outside of the Cayman Islands to the Florida Keys. This adventure recently inspired a weekend-long dive event with Conch Republic Divers, named after the book and all the dives AJ does.
“AJ Bailey is 50% my wife; she has that life spirit, understated, opposite of arrogant but determined: purple hair streaks and tattoos,” Harvey said. “And then 50% of AJ Bailey is a mixture of other people we have met. And then also a little bit of the person you want to be, i.e., the energy and spirit you wish you would have.”
Harvey and his wife, Cheryl, of almost 23 years, are digital nomads. They lived in Key Largo during COVID-19 for two and a half years.
“We landed here at the beginning of 2020 and I had two books out at the time. We made a lot of friends, and it was really the beginning of my author career. Now, I have two series of my own (AJ Bailey and Nora Summer), and then I do collaborations — all set in tropical climates.”
Ashley Hudson, owner of Conch Republic Divers with her husband Dave, explains how they initially met Harvey.
“Joe, one of our instructors, had met Nicholas and knew him. Nicholas was looking for a bookstore to sell his books, so they pitched it to me, and I said, ‘Why not?’” she said. “AJ Bailey is a female dive shop owner, and so am I. So that’s how we met, and since I started selling his books in the shop, I started reading the books.”
“When we updated the smaller boat, I needed to rename it and asked Nicholas, ‘Is there any way I can name it ‘Mermaid Diver’ after your books?’ He said ‘Yes.’ And then I called again because I had a vision in my head for an edgy and cool mermaid, so I wanted to use his mermaid logo design,” Hudson continued.
According to Harvey, “Ashley is a mermaid in her own right.”
“When Ashley sent me the picture of the boat wrapped, I was gobsmacked. It was incredible. When we got back to the Keys on Sunday, we came by and stood and looked at the boat — it looked so amazing,” Harvey said.
One of Harvey’s readers saw the picture of the updated dive boat on Facebook and suggested they create an event together. Unfortunately, that reader could not make it due to an ear infection.
This was Harvey’s first event, and one diver, Stuart, even came from England. Harvey said he could not have put this on without Hudson.
“She and her crew do a great job; they really go the extra mile,” he said. “And we got so lucky with the weather in September; we were able to go to all the spots, even ‘The Bibb.’ Part of the book is that AJ dives on all the wrecks, so for this event, we were able to dive all the same wrecks. It was brilliant.”
One of the attendees, Chrystie O’Brien, came with her husband from Sarasota.
“I have read the books, but we knew Nick before he was an author. We met in 2010 before he was a writer in the Cayman Islands. We were new divers, and he took us under his wings and invited us to go on shore dives.
“When we heard he was coming down here for this, we were like, we have to join in,” O’Brien continued. “It’s always nice to get in the water with him because we learn a bit of what he does to get the storylines. All of his descriptive diving is from his experience.”
Harvey said he’s a divemaster who just completed his tech diving course. He has 800 dives under his belt, so he tries to make everything genuine in the diving. And since his wife’s job is remote, they have more opportunities to live in tropical settings to add authentic island-life inspiration.
Harvey beamed with appreciation when talking about everyone who came.
“I am super blessed. It was an intimate group, so Cheryl and I could meet up at the wrecks and say ‘hi.’ The logistics of these people to spend money and take time out of their lives to come and do this is amazing,” he said.
“Everyone was lovely; they were so excited to meet him as an author; it was a proud moment, very special, as he is so talented,” Cheryl said. “By the end, everyone was old friends. It could not have gone any better.”
In addition to the dives, Harvey and Conch Republic Dive hosted a celebration lunch at Dockside Raw Bar in Tavernier, which wrapped up the event and included a raffle.
Connect further on Facebook and Instagram at CaymanNick. Check out his books and merchandise at www.harveybooks.com. All AJ Bailey books, and soon AJ Bailey merchandise, are available locally at Conch Republic Divers. Select titles can also be found by contacting Sandbar Books. Book a dive or connect further on Facebook and Instagram at Conch Republic Divers and www.conchrepublicdivers.com.
Sponsors including Shearwater Research, Reef Smart, Cayman Spirits Company, Diversco, which distributes Akona Adventure Gear, Sherwood Scuba and Genesis Scuba, PADI, Bonassi Dive and Spearfishing and Dive Rite showed their support.
“The event sponsors were incredible. They provided items for the raffle, and every diver won a prize. Ashley donated dive trips, I gave away AJ Bailey gear from my merchandise line, and one participant won their name to be used in my next AJ Bailey novel,” Harvey said.
Harvey said one of his favorite parts about the Keys —aside from the incredible diving, of course — is the small-town feel.
“(It) sounds crazy when you look at the tourist numbers, but underneath the constant flow of visitors is a thriving, supportive community. Having grown up in small villages and towns in England, I love that feel,” he said.
Harvey’s next book, “Losing Summer,” is part of the Nora Summer series, a spin-off of AJ Bailey. It comes out on Oct. 24.
