Diving the WorldBy Beth and Shaun Tierney Footprint Books, £19.99
Diving has become less a niche holiday and more of a travel essential that needs to be ticked off the tourism list. This guide covers more than 220 sites around the world, all of which have been dived, reviewed and photographed in their iridescent glory by this husband-and-wife team.
A determined honesty seems to be at play: this second edition takes readers’ suggestions into consideration and reproduces a few of the more entertaining contributions; each review reports on conditions the days the divers were there, which might narrow the focus for some readers; and the photographs are only what the divers actually saw, so if an area is famous for whale sharks, for example, but they failed to show up on the day, they don’t make the cut.
Each section opens with a colourful introduction, followed by a few paragraphs on safety, local laws and customs, health and costs. There’s a section on the diving, snorkelling and marine life in the area, and a passage on why this destination is a cut above the rest. Then there are four or five reviews for particular hot spots and a Drying Out section on what to do when you’re not in the water. The entries are
succinct, vibrant and well written, complemented by clean, crisp layouts and terrific photographs.
Most Footprint books do their best to avoid outright recommendations, and here the authors resist – until the inside back cover, when they give useful lists of their favourite places for getting started, wreck dives and big-animal encounters, to name a few.
This is a strong collection of valuable and informative material that will give experienced divers plenty of ideas, and perhaps a few satisfied nods of agreement, and should also convince scores of novice or reluctant divers to strap on some scuba gear.