Water in a 3D game on iOS/Android?

So I have been thinking of making a smart phone game that almost entirely involves sharks jumping in and out of water in a 3D setting. However, smart devices are quite limiting.

I was wondering what was recommended, how would one do 3D water on a smart device to a satisfactory level with sharks jumping in and out of it? The scene takes place in the middle of the ocean, so the water could have small random waves in every direction. Hopefully the emerging/merging sharks would create a larger circular wave that travels in every direction on the surface of that water. Is this something that can be done within a few days? How would it be done, a mesh with each vertex's height calculated by going through the list of known waves?

I'm okay with making this game as cartoonish as possible in order to make it possible, any ideas on how to make it look all visually acceptable are welcomed. I just thought the sharks jumping in and out of a motionless blue quad wouldn't be visually acceptable.