Dive - The Ultimate Guide to 60 of the World's Top Dive Locations

Dive - The Ultimate Guide to 60 of the World's Top Dive Locations
Monty Halls, Ultimate Sports Publications Ltd, 320 pages (2004).

 

Monty Halls' book describes 60 of the world's best diving areas, and highlights specific dives not to be missed whilst you are there. It also aims to provide independent travellers with the other information they will need, such as about water temperatures, visa requirements, the best time of year to go and addresses of dive centres and recompression chambers.

In a large format, the book is generously illustrated with photos from many well-known photographers like Linda Pitkin. It describes 400 dives, grading them from beginner to expert and explaining exactly what you should expect from each.

A map is shown for each area, with the dive sites marked. The key facts are distinct from the text so you can quickly find telephone numbers, "must sees", downsides, etc. Be careful trusting the wetsuit thickness recommended for various temperatures though. An ex-Royal Marine like Monty Halls might be happy diving in a 3 mm shorty wetsuit in 23 oC water, but for long dives I'd be much more comfortable in a full 7 mm wetsuit.

Unusually, the book is part funded by adverts for a couple of resorts. One of these looked very similar to the layout of the main body of the book, but the word "advertisement" at the bottom of the page marks advert from text.

Should you buy this book? If you enjoy visiting different diving destinations, and want to know more about the area and dives there than the diving operators get time to tell you, then this book is for you. It would also make a good Christmas present for diving friends, managing as it does to attractively combine maps, photographs and interesting background information with the dive descriptions.

About the Author:
Marine biologist Monty Halls has been leading diving expeditions for the past 10 years. A regular contributor to Diver Magazine, he has also presented a number of British television programs.

Dive - The Ultimate Guide to 60 of the World's Top Dive Locations is available from amazon.co.uk.

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