Underwater Caribbean (Secrets of the Sea)

Average Customer Rating:

Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 551
EAN: 9788854400139
ISBN: 8854400130
Label: White Star
Manufacturer: White Star
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 160
Publication Date: 2005-01-01
Publisher: White Star
Release Date: 2004-10-15
Studio: White Star

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: A rehash of Caribbean Diving Guide.
Comment: The title of this book may have been re-worked but the product is still the same. What a pity these publishers do not take notice of constructive criticism. The book simply fails to reach the standards demanded by today's discerning Scuba Diver on just about all fronts except photography. Furthermore, this is not a book about the "Caribbean" at all - just a selective number of destinations the author happens to have visited - in some cases not even recently. Once again, therefore, the title of this book fails to match the product itself.

The content is a poor attempt to cover 28 dive sites from 9 countries. Not only is the choice of country questionable for a "Diving Guide," but not only the very best diving from each chosen location is included.

This book appears to have been thrown together from whatever material was available from a number of contributors and the result is a very disjointed effort. It would have been far better to send those contributors out into the Caribbean with a firm plan of action in order to ensure all destinations were covered and the information was up to date. Instead, the cheaper option was preferred and it shows.

The book commences with a very disappointing selection from the Bahamas - which avoids all mention of the world-famous Blue Holes (as though they do not even exist), followed by a brief trip to the Florida Keys. Since when were either the of these destinations "in" the Caribbean?

A trip to Cuba, which includes 3 low-grade sites (maximum depths of 20m, 15m and 10m respectively) is followed by Cotzumel (sic) where, yet again, the best sites are avoided. Four sites from the Caymans - predictably including "Stingray City" (yawn.), are followed by three in Belize - where the Author attempts to rename the "Great Blue Hole" the "Giant Blue Hole." After yet another disappointing visit to Honduras, the reader is treated to a 1,600 mile journey to Guadeloupe and Martinique for 2 dives each before rounding off the diving in continued disappointing fashion with the last 2 underwater sojourns being a further 500 miles away in Curacao.

This book is supposed to be about Diving in the Caribbean but destinations such as; Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, BVI, Cayman Brac, Grenada, the Grenadines, USVI (to name but 8.) are not mentioned at all.

As already suggested, the photography is generally very good although a number of images are under-exposed and not up to the standard expected in this day and age. Quite frankly, if these publishers start using inferior photographs there will be no point in considering their products at all.

Altogether a book which is of little value to any serious diver.

NM

More Reviews

Editorial Reviews:

Thousands of multicoloured fish flock around the diver, surprised, almost overwhelmed by the amazing kaleidoscope of colors swimming around the walls of the reef. But the Caribbean can also be the scene of emotional encounters with larger and fearsome pelagic fish. Kurt Amsler's splendid photography and narrative take the reader on an unforgettable voyage through the secrets of the Caribbean underwater universe, including a meeting with the dolphins of Bahama Bank, another with the rays of Stingray City, a dive into the mysterious Blue Hole of Belize, and a visit to the naval "cemetery" of Saint-Pierre in Martinique.

Scuba Diving Resource and Information - ScubaBoss.com