Dive Atlas of the World: An Illustrated Reference to the Best Sites - This global guide to the world’s top dive sites is an inspirational reference source for divers who wish to experience, personally or vicariously, the best diving the planet has to offer. Written by award-winning and experienced dive authors, coverage starts with the Atlantic, from the West Coast of North America, and proceeds west to east and north to south. For those inspired to travel to any of the featured sites or regions, the appendix lists all important travel and dive information, the best times to go, contacts, dive operators, and emergency facilities.
Brimming with superb underwater photography of famous wrecks, a wide range of marine habitats, and a huge diversity of species ranging from whale sharks to nudibranchs, DIVE ATLAS OF THE WORLD also features six large scale ocean/sea maps, and over three hundred comprehensive maps to all the best sites.
The Dive Atlas of the World offers a tour of the world’s dive sites, described and photographed by experts. From well-known classics to sites which have only recently been discovered, this global selection offers the discerning diver a feast of locations to choose from. Whether you favor muck diving and macro photography, wrecks, walls, reefs, caves, blue holes or the adrenaline rush of a high-speed drift dive in a strong current (or all of these), you will find well-written, clearly mapped accounts of the top places where you can enjoy these dives. With contributions from local experts, leading writers and award-winning underwater photographers including: Jack Jackson, Lawson Wood, Michael Aw, Paul Lees, Dr. Charles Anderson, Sam Harwood, Judy and Bruce Mann, and many more.
This is a really big coffee table size book that is stocked with information about dive sites throughout the world, Some parts of the world (Asia) are given more space than others (Carribbean), but overall, it touches all the bases. I like the way it took individual divesites and broke down the dives with temps, currents, difficultly status, and photos. The maps of the areas profiled is worth the price of the book alone (which is reasonably priced.) If you get one book to get an overview of what’s out there, this is agood place to start.
Scuba Diving MagazIne - The magazine divers trust! Featuring in-depth scuba equipment comparative reviews, dive travel destination reports and feature articles on diving environment, aquatic life, diver nutrition and health.
The magazine serves as a ‘Consumer Reports’ for divers. Their gear recommendations are top notch; but more importantly they stress good technique and training. Their “Lessons for Life” column, where they detail the anatomy of a diving accident, is very useful in keeping divers focused on the fact that although diving is a heck of a lot of fun, it also carries with it some substantial, but mostly preventable, risks.
If you dive at all, you need to be reading this magazine. … However, like EVERY dive publication, I wonder if they can’t keep from raving about any dive destination enough. It makes me wonder if the dive destination (especially the Cayman Islands!!!) isn’t paying the reporters’ way. Trust them for gear, technique, and lifesaving tips. Verify the vacations.
US Divers looking for tropical fish, reefs and seaweed wraps don’t have to fly off to Fiji - not when there are scuba and spas a couple of hours south of Miami.
The Caribbean is a fail-safe diving destination, thanks to its warm, crystal-clear water, colorful marine life and mix of reefs and wrecks. The islands also cater to upscale travelers and honeymooners, so many properties offer full-service spas, fine dining and other luxuries. What’s tougher is the flight-time restriction, since some Caribbean islands require two plane changes or hours-long layovers (Tortola, for example). But in many cases, you can be in the water by afternoon or early evening. Below are Butler’s recommendations for dive-and-indulge destinations and resorts:
- The Little Palm Island Resort and Spa (1-800-343-8567, www.littlepalmisland.com) sits on the five-acre, private Little Torch Key, a three-hour drive south of Miami’s airport. The resort has a swank spa, dining and dives to the Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary and nearby wrecks.
- In the British Virgin Islands, Butler recommends Peter Island Resort (1-800-346-4451, www.peterisland.com) on Peter Island, which is accessible from Tortola by ferry, helicopter or the resort’s private yacht; and Little Dix Bay (1-284-495-5555, www.littledixbay.com) on Virgin Gorda. On Peter Island, divers flock to the RMS Rhone, a British mail steamer wreck where the 1977 film “The Deep” was made. Virgin Gorda is known for its reef diving and the Chikuzen, a 246-foot Korean refrigerator ship.
- On Grand Cayman, choose from more than 159 dive sites - or a full menu of spa treatments at the Westin Casuarina (1-345-945-3800, www.starwoodhotels.com). Butler says Grand Cayman has the world’s best wall diving, which allows divers to swim along the dramatic reef drops and feel suspended in the deep blue.
- The B and C of the ABC islands (the A is for Aruba) are good picks because of their diving reputations, and because they are situated on the southern end of the hurricane belt (so they are less likely to get hit by a storm). Bonaire, in the Netherlands Antilles, has numerous diving resorts, including the Harbour Village Beach Club (1-305-567-9509, www.harbourvillage.com), which offers low-key luxury. Scuba fans enjoy the Bonaire Marine Park, and reef and shore diving. On neighboring Curacao, the Habitat Curacao Resort (1-800-327-6709, www.habitatcuracaoresort.com) has “house diving,” which involves a dock and a long guide rope. Guests can dive the reef 24 hours a day, with tanks available around the clock.
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National Geographic’s: Bermuda’s Depths those who dared dive - Join Ocean Pioneers William Beebe and Otis Barton as they brave a dark abyss and become the first men in history to dive more than 3000 feet down into perilous seas. Exciting reenactments let you share the explorers daring descents inside a small, steel bathydsphere specially designed to sustain human life at extreme depths. Feel the tension mount as the two men push human and techlogical limits on each new dive, venturing deeper than any humans before them, to explore new realms where strange bioluminsecent creatures live in eternal darkness. Witness Beebe’s and Barton’s nerves of steel in actual footage of their dangerous and dramatic descents, and share the excitement when they reach a record depth of 3,028 feet. Nonstop adventure in unknown seas awaits you!
Saudi Arabia seems an unlikely destination for fun in the sun. Yet, recently, a Saudi Prince showed up at a tourism conference to sell Saudi Arabia as a diving vacation spot. Make sure you make a checklist of your social behaviours before you go:
- Don’t expect alcohol to be served anywhere
- Women must come robed head to toe
- You must refrain from eating from dawn to dusk during the holy month of Ramadan.
- No swinging singles allowed
- Women younger then 40 must be accompanied by their brother or father
- Only single issue visas are allowed
Saudi Arabia wants to show the country is more than just the former home of Osama Bin Laden and a breeding ground for terrorism.
Sounds sticky - but with more than 1,600 kilometers of coast along the Red Sea and just under 800 kilometers of beach along the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia is home to some of the world’s most spectacular dive sites.
I’m left to wonder if a steamer (full wet suit covering from neck to ankle) with a hood would be considered complete enough ‘head to toe’ robing for us women divers?
