Swimming with whales and dolphins is usually viewed as an experience reserved for marine biologists and other scientific experts. Typically, the average individual is limited to whale watching out on Montauk Point or venturing on a shore excursion in the Caribbean.

But the aim of Paul Mila's writings is to illustrate his own encounters with the deep sea in hopes of eliminating such a stereotype. Mila is neither a marine biologist, nor a scientist. He didn't spend the majority of his life as a scuba diver or an author for that matter.

Instead, Mila is a retired 59-year-old Carle Place resident three years removed from the fast, stressful and sometimes thankless corporate world. After retirement, Mila began his two new pastimes: writing and exploring the deep sea.

In 2004, Mila published his first novel, Dangerous Waters, which centered upon a dive operation owner named Terry Hunter and a NYPD detective named Joe Manetta. Whales' Angels, Mila's second and just released novel, is a sequel to Dangerous Waters. In this story, the now-married Terry and Joe run a Cozumel, Mexico dive operation together. They both desire to start a family, but physically struggle to have a child.

Terry's character is based on the woman who launched Mila's interest in scuba diving. It happened during a family trip to Mexico in 1999. He was captivated by the idea of a woman who left America to start her own business in Mexico, which is more of a male-dominated economy.

"It was a chain of events," Mila said. "Meeting her was the start of my scuba diving. I was interested in learning more about her because it was unusual for a woman to uproot herself and go to a foreign country. And from talking to her I learned more about her."

Mila asserts that the real Terry, whose name is Alison, differs in many ways from the fictional character. But the fact of the matter is that Terry's roots came from Alison.

Like he did in his first book, Mila incorporates an international scandal within Whales' Angels as well. But the scandal Mila creates actually relates to aquatic issues occurring today in the real world. While diving, the two characters find out about a sea captain performing foul play. The captain illegally hunts whales and kills activists who are fighting against the hunts. Furthermore, two main characters uncover an international conspiracy involving four nations attempting to stop a whaling ban from occurring.

According to Mila, Whales' Angels is based on real events. "I wanted to send a message to get people aware," he said.

Mila was excited to come out with his second book, especially since Whales' Angels came out only two years after Dangerous Waters. He said it normally takes several years for an author to produce another novel.

The author said intense work shopping of his first book led to improvements in his second book. Mila admitted that a professor once told him that his content was good but his writing needed an upgrade. "When I read the first book, I say 'hmm I should have done that differently.'" he said. "When you write, you learn so much - and you have a chance to improve your writing."

Although Mila began his career as an author after he retired from being an economist, it was not the starting point for writing in general. In fact, Mila always had a knack for writing and applied it to his job as a professional business writer.

"I always enjoyed writing way back in school," said Mila. "You know how some people are math-oriented or English/literary-oriented? Well, math was Greek to me."

The author does not plan to stop with Whales' Angels. Mila plans to write yet another sequel to the two books he has already written and is weighing the possibility of devising a non-fiction book.

Mila may be retired, but he sure doesn't live like he is. He describes himself as an "early-bird" who is also a "night-owl." Mila has conquered many goals during his retirement but he recognizes that there is one objective that he must pursue now: promoting his book.

In doing so, Mila recently discussed his writings and adventures during a half-hour segment of Carle Place resident Bill Horan's Secrets of Success radio show. The show, which originally aired June 13, will be broadcast again June 17 at 8:30 a.m. WHPC on 90.3.

Whales' Angels is available for purchase at www.whalesangels.com and through online bookstores such as amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. The books have not yet been stocked on the shelves of local Borders Books and Barnes & Noble stores but can be purchased at traditional independent bookstores across the Island.