Scuba Diving Books

Every great adventurer has their own tips and techniques - here are Gary Gentile's tips on advanced wreck diving.

In an age of beautiful color underwater photographs and advanced underwater technology, this work falls short. The book is dated and less than informative. This is not a reference guide for an experienced diver.

Can't argue with Gentile's credentials as a diver, but his book leaves a lot to be desired. It gives a lot of very basic information and hints, all of which are covered in the PADI wreck diving course. And much of the information he provides is generic to any kind of diving. This book would serve as a decent reference for a beginning wreck diver, but if you've been down on or in more than two wrecks already, this book won't tell you anything new.

Going direct to the point, without unnecessary bla-bla-bla of diving nerds, the author is very objective in what he proposed to explain, and what we want to read, wreck diving techniques, equipment and diving operation.

Although a little outdated, this is a good choice for someone that is beginning to learn about Technical diving. Even though this book is 10 yrs old -and tech diving changes rapidally- there are still chapters that are very usefull. The artifact restoration chapter especially. All in all a good addition to any diver's book shelf.

The book has lots of information on the islands themselves and explains all reef and some wreck dives. However 95% of the dive sites are rated as 4 stars and the remaining 5% are rated 3 stars, so you can't tell which ones are the best dives.

This book contains a nice overview of the islands. There are many quality photos of the dive sites.

The Dive Sites of the ABC Islands was an informative guide that provided a useful map with some interesting history regarding Bonaire, and the information regarding the diveability of the sites was most appreciated by our newest member who received his Open Water Certification while we were there. However, some entries appeared dated, whereas various dive locations were no longer accessible, the water clarity ratings appeared overstated (at least for 03 - 11 February 2007 and the Restaurant listings provided little useful information, whereby we relied more heavily on input from the locals. However, as there were no other more current guides available, I'd say this one was worth the money spent. I would recommend a separate identification guide for the fish, coral, anemones, and sponges you'll find, as you'll likely be left wondering what some of strange and unusual sights were that you encountered!

I ordered this book because I was planning a professional assignment to the ABC islands and had many questions to ask. Having previously reviewed other titles in this series with somewhat mixed results I had some idea of what to expect.

In addition to learning about the various Dive Sites, the information I require is; Something about the people - a potted history of the country and an insight into their language and customs etc, plus a few lines about shopping, how to get there, airlines, excess baggage, airport tax, tourist boards, hotels, time difference, local transport, currency, electricity, language, photography, diving facilities, safari boats, available equipment, what to bring, what to wear - and so forth. Thankfully, most of these questions (though not all) are answered with additional information on diving for the disabled and Nitrox. Furthermore, this is a destination with no direct flights from the UK - so the detailed variables of how I might get there were particularly valuable.

"The Dive Sites of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao" is paperback measuring 9½in x 6½in containing over 170 pages. Commencing with a two-page explanation of the legends and symbols used throughout the book, we then have chapters on; An overall Introduction to the country, Travel, Diving and Snorkelling in general, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, the Marine Environment, Underwater Photography & Video and Health & Safety for Divers.

The first map is across pages 10 and 11 and shows the islands (there are actually 5 altogether), in relation to each other and the Caribbean. That and the first 3 chapters are a very good start. Now we get down to the diving found off each of the 3 main (and two smaller) islands and this is where the book could so easily be improved. Altogether, there are brief details on 180 dive sites but each chapter commences with "Site No 1" whereas it would be far more useful had they been numbered consecutively from beginning to end.

For each of the islands/island groups, only one map is required in order to demonstrate the approximate position of all the dive sites. Whilst this is used to good effect as far as Aruba is concerned, Bonaire and Curaçao are separated into 3 and 4 artificial divisions respectively. When studying the diving detail, it is always the little things which reveal the amount of research undertaken by any author. For many years Aruba has claimed that their shipwreck "Antilla" is "The largest shipwreck in the Caribbean." Whilst I can't fault any Tourist Board or local Diving Facility for making such a claim, the Author really should have done his homework. I know of at least 2 Cruise Liners found elsewhere in the Caribbean (Grenada and Mustique) that are easily 200 feet longer than this particular shipwreck and, for me, the diving detail in this book is, therefore, suspect.

My final criticism is reserved for the blatant advertising for "Captain Don's Habitat." This amounts to several photographic captions where no name even needed to be mentioned and a double-page eulogy about this particular diver. I fully appreciate how the Author's diving had to be sponsored by somebody, but subsequent reference to that sponsor should be limited to the acknowledgements page and, perhaps, the occasional plug in one or two (and no more) photographs. If the Author wishes to write a testimonial to Captain Don Stewart (I am well aware of his contribution to the local Diving scene.) - fine by me, but it's inclusion here gives the impression of this book being limited to the Diving provided by this particular facility - and nobody else. And that is the wrong impression to give.

Having said all that, almost all the information you are likely to want is here. That - coupled with a good cross-section of high-calibre photographs throughout, make this the best diving guide to the ABC Islands I have yet to see. With a few improvements here and a few deletions there, this book could so easily have obtained a 5 star rating.

NM

I'm very dissapointed in this book. I'm an experienced West Coast diver who has dove in Hawaii several times. I bought the book hoping to find detailed information on some great sites. What I got instead was a general overview without any real substance. Yes, there are some good facts throughout the text that are helpful, weather, climate conditions, etc., but very little on where and how to dive the individual sites. The sites for each island listed are only a few, and in my experience aren't the best ones. Specific details are left up to the diver or snorkeler to figure out. Something difficult for a first timer to the islands. The maps were too few, too basic, too broad, and lacked sufficient detail to really have this book be considered a "guide book." I would suggest anyone travelling over to Hawaii to pick up a copy of "The O`ahu Snorkelers and Shore Divers Guide" by Francisco B. de Carvalho. His book has more detailed info than any other book on the market and will definitely give you what you need to know on selecting and diving or snorkeling a site...all 26 for just the island of O`ahu.

I am usually not a Lonely Planet guide fan - I like more pictures. So this book was a pleasant surprise from them. Lots of vivid pictures. Fantastic advice about what types of things NOT to touch too!! Kept us out of trouble more than once. They listed several of the sites that the local dive shops mentioned as well. You have to know they are good that way! Nice to have a guide for which are shore access and which require a boat trip too. We went to every single shoreline access site listed for the Big Island and they were correct with their descriptions. Our trip wouldn't have been half as wonderful without this book! Thank you Astrid and Casey!

I used this book a lot on my recent trip to Maui and thought it was great. It's not like the general Lonely Planet guidebooks, but it's not trying to be - it's got lots more photos (awesome!) and and the focus really is on the dive site descriptions. There's plenty of snorkeling information, including a "Top 10 snorkeling sites". And did I mention the photos?

I have used many Lonely Planet Guides to travel from Asia to Middle East to Africa, and they have all been great plan-it/do-it-yourself guides. This one isn't one of them. It gives no real info at all on the actual location of a site, except to show a little icon on a small scale map. It says little about shore entry, and little about where to go after entering the water. It barely says anything useful for snorkeling. It's no more useful than a coffee table book when it comes to helping one plan a trip. It's a nice visual production, but it's a guidbook series acquired by Lonely Planet and not a "real" LP Guide.

Wish there was a 2.5 star to rate with. This was really not quite a 3 but better than a 2. Too much mush and short on any real mystery, character development, or action. The saving feature was the authors actual knowledge of SCUBA and the dive community. Her descriptions of the underwater scenes were good but a little hurried at times. Her characters speech was often stilted and mechanical. I enjoyed the book from a divers perspective but not from a strictly enjoyable story perspective.

This is the classic "chick book" The mystery of love and romance overshadow the goofy search for treasure. Real men..stay away.

The Treasure was one of the best books I have read in a long time. It was an exciting, interesting, and romantic story. I honestly could not put the book down - I HAD to find out "what was going to happen next" with each chapter. Reading this book not only gave me some enjoyable down time from my children, it also opened my eyes and taught me about something I knew very little about - scuba diving. I can attest to the fact that I am to chicken to ever do it, but I thoroughly enjoyed living vicariously through the main character's adventures! I can't wait to read another book by Kathleen Harrison!

The Treasure is one of those "can't put it down" type of books. As a diver, I am always looking for a good book that revolves around scuba diving. The Treasure is an adventure in the tropics with enough romance to intrigue but not so much that it takes away from the treasure hunt. The author has a way of bringing to life the way of the tropics, from underwater scenes to happy hour at the local bar. Once I started this book, I couldn't put it down! I think divers and non-divers alike would enjoy this trip to tropics.

This book isn't exactly a leisurely reading book, but if you're interested in knowing just how everything works it will do the job.

This book may benefit a physicist but probably offers little benefit to a diver or dive instructor. It has been a while since my math and physics classes and I found this volume daunting. If elementary particel interacton, hydrodynamics or maxwell equations are of interest to you then get this book. If you looking for usefull dive information or explanations look elswhere.

Obviously written for readers with a sound scientific background, this book presents a quasi exhaustive review of physical principles applied to diving. Mathematical data are fully presented. The problem, as usual with B.R. Wienke publications, is that the presentation is quite "dry", written in a very cursive, non pedagogical way. You will often need to take your time and to read very slowly and carefully to follow the author. Leaving that aspect aside, the book is a real sum of what you need to know if you want to dive with mathematical awareness ...

Well organized by region, with a useful table at the end of each section, listing such things as travel, lodging, camping, local dive shops, etc.

I found that this book tries to cover really lot of things. It could be a good coverage (actually, it's not bad) but when I finished reading it, I didn't get much of it, except from it's good pictures.
Perhaps, it should take a more local look, not that global.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a new dive site or looking to find a new place to vacation. The book is VERY well illistrated like all books in the Discovery series.

An excellent guide with supurb photos, invaluable to anyone planning to dive these islands. The layout is intelligent and very easy to follow, and the practical advice is well up to the standards I expect of LP.

Buy it well before you go to plan out that dream vacation

This book is ok for snorkeling advice. Mostly geared to diving. A lot of the descriptions of the locations for snorkeling where not accurate. I would recommend since you really do not have a choice.

This met my expectations quite well. A good overview of the area, followed by a review of the key dive spots in French Polynesia. Excellent phtography, including a good critter guide at the end.

The only downside I can find is that there's no real overview of good snorkeling sites . . . they're lumped in with diving sites.

Overall, I'd recommend . . . I know it will be useful for my trip!

Great Reading! This description of Caribbean Living and Lifestyle is amazingly accurate. I have lived in the Caribbean for 14 years and have visited every island. Basically they are all the same. The problems stem from little or no education, naivety, to lack of political will. The expats. who moved to the islands as well as the locals are equally at fault. As an Educator for over 40 years I have offerred Free Education to those who will listen on my Island. I have been met by most with a deaf ear. If you want to learn the Real Truth about living in the Caribbean, Dog Island is a must read. Congrats to the writer!

Seeing that the first reveiw was written by the author using her real name,let me tell you that this book was written with venom. Her account of her problems may be true, but her accounts of the island itself are grossly misleading. Having lived on "Dog Island" for many years, I was very offended by her negative remarks about the wonderful people who live here. She doesn't have a positve thought throughout the book and it does not reflect what island living is really like for normal people. Don't waste your money on this book. It isn't worth the paper it is written on.

If you're ever wondering what living on an island paradise is like, check out this book before you move. It's not all about scenerey and it would be great if that counted for more in life.
Dog Island reminds me of Wouk's, Don't Stop the Carnival. Both of the main characters barely got out without loosing their shirts!
Ms. Oleander lets us know about expatriots, how scuba diving doesn't follow many of the US regulations in the islands and how much drinking goes on. It's a great read when she gets to the sea turtle nesting. I wish the photos (4) were in color.

While many dive the waters of Long Island in Wet Suits, you can greatly extend your dive season to year round or at least April to December with a Dry Suit. A Dry Suit allows you to stay dry and wear heavy thermals under the suit so you stay nice and toasty even if ice diving. The techniques for use of a dry suit are different from a wet suit.
This book explains it all in detail. This book should be required reading for all new Dry Suit divers.

We found this book very informative. In addition to teaching the aspects of dry suit diving, it also tells you how to maintain your equipment properly.

Don't get me wrong, this was a book packed with excellent information about the history of dry suit diving, maintenance requirements, and thermal properties of various configurations, but it was not the instructional text I was looking for. I found the text worthy as a guide to making repairs, but found it terribly boring to read. I was hoping to draw on the experiences of the authors to aid in my growth as a dry suit diver, but that is simply not what this text is suitable for. This makes a fine edition to my collection of texts and I will refer to it in the event a repair is required to my suit, but this text is NOT the instructional manual, packed with "how to" tips, I was searching for.

Although being an instructor and supposed to teach others how to dive, including dry suit diving, I've never had a dry suit diving course myself. Till I bought this book I've brought on my own experience - I thought I would have a guide that could break my self-taught bad habits.
Not so. This book gave me a lot about the history of the development of dry suits (which very much took place in my neighbourhood) and a lot about maintenance and caretaking of dry suits. These subjects deserve the three stars rating. But I still dive like I did before, as the useful tips of actual dry suit diving are scarce and should not be the reason for buing this book. Or, on second thoughts - isn't there more to dry suit diving than this?

I have given this book the lowest possible rating for two main reasons; Firstly it lacks overall credibility and, secondly, the State laws of Queensland have been flouted.

Any book with a title that suggests it is a Diving Guide to the Great Barrier Reef is making a very big claim and I took delivery with great excitement. Sadly, I was very quickly disappointed. The Great Barrier Reef of Australia is over 1,200 miles long and this book covers just 27 dive sites with varying degrees of thoroughness. Starting with 7 sites off Cairns, the author then takes the reader on a quick dash to Heron Island - some 600 miles south, for another 3 sites before returning to those previously visited northern climes to resume and conclude. In short, the title of this book is misleading.

More importantly, however, I did find certain specific content most upsetting.

Pages 11 and 47 contain photographs showing Divers physically touching and manhandling, the Giant Grouper (Epinephelus tukula) commonly known as the Potato Cod. Strangely, the captions for these photographs are at odds with the content - in that they correctly inform the reader that human contact with these fish is detrimental and may leave them open to parasitic invasion by removing the creature's own protective mucus. Clearly a question of do as I say - but NOT as I do when "I" take photographs.

Similarly, page 140 describes how the "State Laws of Queensland" specifically prohibit divers from entering the shipwreck "Yongala." 137 people lost their lives when this vessel foundered in 1911 and, having made those "Laws" quite clear, the author then advises Divers to take a torch and on pages 140 and 141 promptly shows his own images from the ship's interior - a clear demonstration of how Australian laws have been blatantly flouted in the production of this book.

Altogether, quite disgraceful!

NM

This book is excellent at providing sample dives along the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Included are reef structure, marine life likely to be encountered, and photography tips specific to the site.

At the back of the book are several pages of color drawings of the most prevelant fish for this area.

The book contains lots of photos and description of different dive sites around the great barrier reef. However I believe it would be impossible to expect to the book to include all dive sites. Net-net this is a book I enjoy reading it again and again.