Scuba Books

This book had too little information about what I needed. I'm taking a trip to Roatan, Honduras this year and wanted to get some information to prepare me. There was only 9 pages about the place I was going to, so I returned it.

I got this for 89 cents plus shipping, which is about what it is worth. Some info there, but not a lot that any thinking person would not know. My girlfriend is a newby diver and pretty timid, so I get her all the info to read that I can. You can go through the book in an hour or less, then sell it on eBay for more than you paid on Amazon.

This book has lots of information on Wreck Diving and Wreck diving techniques but it isn't worth the money. The product information Amazon.com had listed didn't explain that this was an ANDI (American Nitrox Divers International) traning manual. This book is used to assist in training Level 2 & 3 ANDI Wreck divers. This book is four chapters and roughly 120 pages long. It is a training book so at the end if each chapter it has questions to be answered for study review.

I feel that although this book has useful information the price is EXTREMELY high. There is information on penetration set ups, types of equipment and uses, and safety measures for diving inside or outside a wreck. This book appears to have been printed at Kinko's. In my opinion don't purchase this book unless the price drops drastically. You'll be very disappointed when you pull it out of the package.

Once again we have a title claiming to be a "Diving Guide" but which contains little or no relevant information.

Kurt Amsler is a man with a very high reputation as an Underwater Photographer and the cover photograph for this book is particularly outstanding. With few exceptions, the plentiful supply of high quality photographs found inside the book are also by this man.

Some time ago, I was invited to visit the Maldives for a UK-based travel operator and immediately ordered a number of books in readiness for that trip. I took delivery of "Maldives Diving Guide" with great excitement - especially when I saw that cover shot. Sadly, I was immediately disappointed by the content and had to look elsewhere for the information I needed.

The contents page reveals an overall introduction followed by 28 specific dive sites taken from those Atoll Reefs closest to Malé - the country's capital. Diving on the northern and southern-most Atolls, however, are not covered at all. That just about sums up the problems with this book - altogether too much information is simply missing.

Surely, any diving guide to the Maldives should contain a little something from every corner of that country and not just concentrate on those sites nearest to the airport. This gives the impression that the book was completed within a period of least-time-possible spent in the country and brings into question the book's credibility as a serious diving "guide."

Certainly, any discerning diver might well drool over the excellent photography - BUT, having whetted that appetite, the book then fails to deliver any of the vital information which is both basic and yet so essential for a visit. In short, there is no information on; travel agencies, airlines, airport tax, tourist boards, hotels, diving facilities, safari boats, available equipment, what to bring, what to wear, electricity, currency, language, time differences, photography, local traders - and if I missed anything, then - yet again!, this book misses everything. In summary, this so-called Diving Guide is nothing more than a collection of pretty pictures of pretty dive sites - and I know this Author can do better.

That coupled with this particular publisher's own peculiar brand of "Italian-English" (often difficult to read) and their penchant for hiding photograph captions in every conceivable place - except, immediately below the photograph itself, leaves me totally bemused.

This book would have scored full marks had it been described as a "Photographic Guide to Underwater Maldives" but it clearly fails any test as a "Diving Guide." Certainly, the photography (for which the book retains a 2 star rating) will give the reader a first class taste to what is found underwater, but any diver contemplating such an expensive trip will then require another book containing the answers to the many questions that arise.

NM

This book has been written with men in mind who will be seeking young females. Very little is addressed about the availability of male in the Philippines. There are females who travel and may want information on the men in that country.

This is not so much a travel book as it is a hook up book. the author clearly was not trying to inform the reader of how to move there, but ways to hook up. The title is misleading along with the books description.

I have been coming to the Philippines since 1999 & will be moving there within 2 years. So I purchased this new book "How to Move to The Philippines: The Ultimate Guide To Paradise" Wow! It should have been called "A short & brief guide for first time visitors to the Philippines" There is almost nothing informative on moving there, let alone an "Ultimate Guide" and what is worse, some of the info is outright wrong! I own over a dozen books on the Philippines & by far the best is "Philippines Travel Guide" by Jens Peters with over 880 pages of a vast amount of info, pictures & maps. But since I'm moving there & not just traveling, I want some in depth info on actually moving there. I was worried when I ordered this book knowing it was only 86 pages & wondered how it could contain vital info on actually moving there in that small amount of pages. But get this, It wouldn't even 86 pages because all the lines are double spaced & paragraphs are triple spaced! This is by far the worst and the most misrepresented book I've ever ordered. After seeing what I received, I immediately packaged it back up & sent it back to Amazon for a full refund. In conclusion, do not waste your money on this book. It has no valuable info for moving there and for travelers whether first timers or regulars, there's much better resources out there than this. As stated above, in my opinion the "Philippines Travel Guide" is the best. Others are "The Rough Guide to the Philippines" by David Dalton, "The Philippines" by Evelyn Peplow & even the Lonely Planet's "Philippines".

As a master diver who has dived over 40 years and has visited many of Fiji's dive sites, I would advise any potential diving visitor to save their money here and buy the newer and much more complete Lonely Planet "Diving and Snorkeling Fiji" by renowned dive guides Casey Mahaney and Astrid Witte (also available on Amanzon). Just be aware- Fiji has so many and varied dive sites visited by day operations and liveaboards NO book can really do justice comprehensively. Nope, no connections with LP or Mahaney, I just want to save other divers the trouble... and if you love diving, you will LOVE Fiji diving!

This book gives limited information on approximately 20 dive sites in Fiji. The descriptions and photos are adequate, but are relatively brief. The book makes few recommendations, but provides a decent place to start rough planning of an independent dive vacation.

The first thing that struck me when a copy of this book arrived through my letterbox was how thin it was. This is a paper-back book measuring 9" x 6" (23cm x 15 cm) containing 92 pages. With 20 of those pages taken up with such information as; Title of the book (again), publisher's information, contents, acknowledgements, how to use the book, overview (history) of Cuba, geography, transportation, sightseeing, entertainment, index, etc, etc, there is precious little room left for the diving information - for which we purchased the book in the first place.

For much of the content we are then treated to one specific dive site per page each of which is headed with the following information; Typical depth range, Typical current condition, Expertise required, Access, Site No. After this we are treated to a short dialogue which, in many cases, fails to describe the site adequately and in some cases is exceedingly short. And the shorter the dialogue, the bigger the picture which takes up the rest of the page.

Of course the underwater pictures are all of typical Caribbean flora and fauna and the many species of available are almost all mentioned (somewhere!) in order to pad out the text.

In short, could have done much better!

NM

I agree with NM's review. This book is a complete waste of time and money. You can get more useful information talking to your local diveshop or dive travel agent. Over a third of the book gives very general tourist information that you can get from any guide to Cuba. At the back, there are the usual pages of Carribean Fish ID and some more padding.

I expected a thorough guide to most if not all, diving sites in Cuba. I have bought other books in this series (Thailand & Belize) and have found them extremely helpful and informative. This book on Cuba is severely lacking in any useful diving information.

For example under the Cayo Largo section, the author writes "Cayo Largo has around 30 sites. 3 described below...." What about the rest? The state-owned Puerto Sol diving centers around Cuba are extremely friendly & helpful and each one has a huge board with a geograpically correct map showing all the dive sites in the surrounding area. Would it be that much effort to even photograph those maps and add them to the book?

I bought this book sight unseen because most of Lonely Planets guides are very good. However there are almost no references to snorkeling in the book. The info is all about diving and even that is not very in depth. Adding snorkeling to the title seems to be a blatent attempt to sell more books.

After using Lonely Planet books exclusively to tour Europe, I expected the same thoroughness in this book. I was surprised how incomplete this book is. My friend did pick a better book while in Grand Cayman, unfortunately the title eludes me at this time. Lonely Planet only touches the surface on the available dive sites but if you want quick easy reading without high expectations then this is the book for you.

Wrong book for those who enjoy snorkeling!! There is great snorkeling in St. Thomas but you will not find it in this book!!

This does suck for snorkelers. But Lonely Planet just put out a new edition of this guide. I bought if off their website, www...(sorry Amazon!). It's MUCH better than this tired old book, and the photos are incredible!

The title is misleading, therefore only 1 star. There is only one paragraph devoted to snorkeling. It is, however a great 4 star diving guide. Great marine life pictures.

[Bad info] for snorkelers, and the site information is flimsy. But Lonely Planet just published a new edition of this book. ...It's MUCH better than this sorry, 10-year-old book, and the pictures are incredible!

The title is very misleading. If you are looking for a guide to snorkeling in the USVI, look elseware. The space devoted to snorkeling involves approximently five sentences. I got more information from my Fodor's!

Being relatively new this sport I enjoy all the information that I can get. This however was not enjoyable. The title itself seems to be a marketing gimmick to get people to buy this book, at no time were any "extreme" aspects of diving mentioned, unless you count the ancient rebreather that is featured. If you need a BASIC 101 to see what diving is about this would be at best introductory.

I wish I had never bought this book. It is very basic and tries and cover all types of diving, from freediving to nitrox. It is written simplistically and all the gear photos are at least 5 years out dated. Some are more like 15 years. I would not recommend this book to anyone.