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.
A Pictoral History of Diving - An exciting in-depth overview of diving procedures and equipment from ancient breath-hold diving to modern deep diving systems. The photographs were contributed from all over the world and are accompanied by explanatory text written by an international group of authorities who are acknowledged experts in their respective fields. The illustrations present the developmental history of the exploration of the underwater world. A beautiful full-color coffee-table book.
A Pictorial History of Diving provides a lavishly illustrated, brief, but comprehensive review of diving history, from early breath-hold diving and primitive diving bells to modern developments like ROV’s and the Newtsuit. Unlike many other books on the subject, it also includes information on underwater habitats and recreational gear. An excellent photo section on early dive helmets rounds out the history and provides some fuel for the imagination. A great coffee table book and serious reader in one volume!
Wreck Valley, A Record of Shipwrecks off Long Island’s South Shore and New Jersey - We’re always looking for fun and interesting dive sites in the US for when we’re unable to plan a full, tropical dive vacation. The US has many interesting dive sites to offer within it’s borders - and wreck diving seems to take the spotlight!
Book Description
Wreck Valley Vol II is the most comprehensive, accurate, illustrated collection of information, photographs, sketches and stories ever written about the wrecks that lie off the Long Island, New York, and New Jersey shores. This book is a completely new updated, expanded and enhanced edition of Daniel Berg’s original Wreck Valley book. Wreck Valley Vol II covers the history, legend, present condition, aquatic life and pertinent dive information on over 90 shipwrecks. This text includes over 265 illustrations comprised of 137 color photographs, 97 black and white historical images, 32 sketches, plus one map. The collection of historical photographs alone would take years of archive research to locate and would cost a small fortune if purchased separately. Many of these rare photographs have never before been published. Vol II also includes a Loran “C” List of accurate shipwrecks locations. Divers, fisherman, marine historians, armchair sailors or anyone with a general interest in history, diving or the sea will surely find this book informative, facinating and the perfect addition to their library.
Five hundred pounds of plastic explosive sent this 32,000-ton aircraft carrier to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in May, forming the largest intentional man-made reef in history and marking the inauguration of a Navy program to turn old ships into coral reefs. To meet EPA standards for sea disposal, the 888-foot carrier was stripped of oil, paint and asbestos, at a cost of $8 million. It worked: The scuttle didn’t even leave a slick on the surface. The hull of the craft now rests at 212 feet, too deep for casual scuba divers, though the higher superstructure should be fair game. You have plenty of time to plan your trip—the Oriskany won’t disintegrate for hundreds of years.
The retired U.S.S. Oriskany is now host to fish and divers. Click here to see the 32,000-ton hulk sink
The Andrea Doria Ocean Liner in it’s final moments.
“Fifty years ago today, on July 25, 1956, two large passenger liners off Massachusetts were steaming toward each other through the night at a combined speed of 40 knots. In spite of ample room to maneuver, in spite of the radar that let them spot each other from a distance, and in spite of clear rules intended to avoid collisions, the Stockholm crashed into the Andrea Doria and ripped the luxurious ship open amidships. It was to be the last great drama of the age of transatlantic passenger liners.”
The Andrea Doria still rests on the sea floor. Because the ship lies well below the maximum safe scuba-diving depth, she has taken on the role of the Everest of diving. Hundreds of souvenir hunters have explored her wreck; a dozen have died trying.
The sinking of the Andrea Doria did not mark the end of the ocean liner. It simply sounded a melancholy note in the dirge of an industry already doomed. In 1958, two years after the collision, airlines began offering nonstop jet travel between the United States and Europe. The leisurely five-day crossing on a well-appointed passenger ship became a relic of a bygone era.
Read the full story of the Andrea Doria here.
