Top Dive Sites of the World (Hardcover)

This book is laid out in 7 general areas of the World; The Caribbean, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Indo Pacific and Pacific. Straight away, as we enter the Caribbean, we find two of the world's most outstanding dive destinations are not even mentioned in passing. Not only is Belize (home of the world's second largest Barrier Reef "and" the Great Blue Hole) not even mentioned, the country itself is not even shown on this publisher's map of the world. Next up, the "Atlantic Ocean" is reduced to Scapa Flow and the Canary Islands. The Mediterranean is represented by Sardinia alone - and once again countries such as Malta do not even appear on the map. Predictably, the Red Sea includes the Thistlegorm - but not the Rosalie Moller, which many divers regard as a much better shipwreck.

Of course I could go on about what is missing from the remainder of the book - but the point is made. Too many of the world's acknowledged "Top" dive sites and destinations are missing from this book to allow it's title of "Top Dive Sites of the World" to go unchallenged. "My favourite dives from around the World" would have been a more honest title.

My second criticism is content. The text is not well written and, for example, the section on Scapa Flow tells us nothing whatsoever about any specific shipwreck - and "shipwrecks" are the very reason why divers go there in the first place! It is just an overview of the Flow which takes up less than 2 pages of text. Elsewhere, such outstanding shipwrecks as Egypt's Thistlegorm (and a whole book has been written about that particular wreck!), is reduced to a few words.

In summary, a good book for pretty pictures but these tend to mask an otherwise disappointing effort.

NM

It is blatantly obvious when you open the front cover that not only are you going to be sucked into this book, you are going to be sucked into a whole other realm. Six strip photographs of divers in azure blue water and magnificent seascapes immediately tell the diving fan that this book was a good purchase.

The dive sites featured are split into seven regions - Caribbean sea, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Indo-Pacific and Pacific Ocean and each of these are handled in the same formulaic way. Each region is then broken down into a small list of dive destinations and these are all assigned three or four pages of text and accompanying pictures.

A dive destination is given a brief description often comprising some geographical information, some history and a brief run down of what else is of interest in that particular location and surrounds. Then it is into the nitty gritty of a few selected dive sites and what you can expect from them.

For quick reference, each resort's title page has a column describing in brief terms the climate, the best time to visit, how to get there, water temperature, visibility, quality of marine life, depth of dives, snorkelling availability and the dive practicalities of the sites featured. Most of the sites are accessible to open water qualified divers but some are necessarily only for those with advanced/specialised diver skills. Wreck dives are also featured.

This book is cleverly produced. It is quite clearly a reference book and so the text, whilst well written, really only becomes important when you are interested at looking at a particular destination or region. It is the pictures, on the other hand, that make this book a real joy to browse through. Collected from a number of renowned photographers, they are breathtakingly beautiful.

If I had one criticism of this book it is that it simply is not long enough. To cover the Great Barrier Reef in six pages seems to belittle the most awesome natural creation on the face of the earth but you have to draw the line somewhere. It is clear though that this book is definitely targetted at divers and not something to buy if you simply have an interest in the sea and sea life.

For the divers among you, if the descriptions of myriads of fish and the shadowy forms of sharks don't have your mouth watering, the pictures will have you checking your bank balance and the availability of flights to Egypt........or Grand Cayman.......or Fiji.