Varesha Ives has a head for business, a heart for underwater adventure and a career that enables her to blend the two.

The 1988 UD graduate is co-founder and vice president of Coral Island Charters in West Palm Beach, Fla., a scuba diving operation that has earned international praise as among the best dive operations in North America.

"There's no other place on earth where you can see the diversity and quantity of life as you do underwater," Ives says.

Born in Philadelphia and reared in New Castle County by a single mother, Ives grew up with a strong desire to be independent--financially and otherwise. She entered UD in 1984.

"I actually started out as a biology major, which gives you a hint of why I got interested in scuba diving," she says. "Like many people, I grew up fascinated with images of Jacques Cousteau's exciting undersea explorations, and thought I'd like to work with the marine environment. But, in my sophomore year at UD, I evaluated career options. It was important to me to be able to support myself."

Ives decided to get more practical and earned her bachelor's degree in business, with an emphasis in marketing. After graduation, she went to work in human resources for the Bank of Delaware. When the bank later merged with PNC Bank, Ives took a promotion to a corporate recruiting job at the bank's Pittsburgh headquarters. It proved to be a turning point in her life--in more ways than one.

"I got my scuba certification in 1992, but wasn't able to dive very much," Ives says. "My job with PNC Bank was great, as I traveled a lot and was able to extend my business trips to include a couple of play days. One such recruiting expedition/vacation took me to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, then on to the Florida Keys for some diving. I had planned on finding sunshine and relaxation. What I found was my soulmate and a whole new way of life."

She was introduced to that way of life by Jay Mauney, a course director in Key Largo, Fla., who operated a bed-and breakfast-style dive operation. "He was very ambitious and energetic and self-motivated, an entrepreneur by nature," Ives says. "He was interested in taking his existing business to the next level, and I became interested in making a change."

After a year and a half, Ives quit her job and moved to Florida. She and Mauney became business partners and established Coral Island Charters [www.coralislandcharters.com].

"We offer 'tuxedo level service' and 'one-stop shopping' for folks who want to scuba while on vacation in Florida. We set up packages that typically include accommodations, diving and a scuba course tailored to an individual's skills," she explains. "There's everything from Discover Scuba, a half-day program for beginners to try scuba in the pool, to the Open Water certification that takes about four days to advanced training in wreck diving, deep diving, marine naturalist and more. You can even choose to make a career change and become a scuba instructor!

"We have certified people from 12 to 95 years old," Ives says. "There are very few physical limitations in our sport, especially here, where we have drift current conditions which gently propel divers along our reefs and wrecks. And everyone's on vacation. Their goal is to have a good time! It's fun for us to see couples and families get closer as they share a common interest."

Of course, there are a few basic requirements--a sense of comfort in the water, good health and an ability to swim. Divers need a physician's clearance to participate, and all divers are asked to sign a legal waiver, as in most adventure sports.

Apparently, Coral Island Charters has plenty of satisfied customers.

Readers of Rodale's Scuba Diving magazine recently voted them the fourth-best dive operation in North America. And, Coral Island Charters was been named a "Gold Palm Resort" by the Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI), the largest certifying organization of its kind in the world

"We're very proud of the recognition," Ives says, "as a measure of our success in a few short years."

What advice does she offer others eager to "follow their dream"?

"Get a basic grounding in business practices--accounting, sales tactics, money management, time and people management," she says. "The skills I learned at UD have been invaluable. I can't imagine trying to run a business without them. Combined with the best product you can produce, you just have to take a leap of faith like I did and then hit the ground running."

According to Ives, while being self-employed can be scary, it has its advantages. A person develops a wider set of skills that can make him or her more marketable and can lead to greater job satisfaction.

"I love the flexibility in my schedule. We travel when we can, and I usually take a month off in the fall. But, the best thing," Ives says, "is that I never have to get to work before 9 in the morning!"

--Kevin Riordan