Customer Reviews

Fifty Places to Dive Before You Die: Diving Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this for my husband for Christmas. We're avid divers, and I thought it would a book that would inspire us to travel to different places to dive. I found nothing of substance here- not a lot of detail about either the places or pictures that would inspire someone to travel to these places. Save your money...

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it cover to cover within 2 days. It's a fast read. Each dive site gets about a 2 and 1/2 page description (some destinations get slightly more) with a dive expert giving a brief vignette on some of the highlights they have encountered at the site. The sites range from novice-friendly to much more complicated (for example, the first site listed is in Antarctica... not exactly luxury warm weather diving!!), but there is enough here to entertain divers of all levels.

If you are looking for an in depth analysis of a dive site, this probably isnt the right book for you. The descriptions are just too brief to use the book for that purpose. But if you're just looking for ideas... or if you have a particular large sea creature you are dying to sea (i.e. mola molas, humpbacks, various shark species), the book does a good job of pointing out places where you are more-likely to encounter them. It also hits on dive spots where the macro life is the highlight.

In response to one other's reviewers comments about not having a Red Sea or a Cuba destination, that comment is inaccurate. The Red Sea destination mentioned is Sha'ab Rumi, a location off the coast of Sudan. The author recommends a live aboard boat for this trip. For Cuba, the author recommends Jardines de la Reina, though he cautions US citizens who travel there that they do so at their own risk.

All in all, a fun book to read on a chilly winter day with a cup of coffee and a tired dog asleep at your feet (at least that's how I did it!).

This book consists of 50 "experts" writing 2-3 short pages on their favorite dive spots... there's no single expert or guiding hand in terms of picking the places, it's random. There's one photo per section and they seem to be stock images for the most part, mostly set above the water line... girl lying on beach, girl seen from above snorkelling, whale's tail as it dives etc. Some of the experts really ARE experts, like Stan Waterman, but many others are simply people who own dive shops and... surprise!... recommend their top spot as the place their dive shop services. There are even a few who are clearly simply flogging their dive safari/specialized trips. You're paying an awful lot for a book with no original images which basically consists of advertising.

Nice book with a fair number of pictures. The book can't decide if it is a travel advisory book or a coffee table book, and so misses on being great in either category. To be truly outstanding coffee table book, it would need more full page high quality photos. To be a truly outstanding travel advisory, it need more text and more opportunities for contact of dive operations/activities at each location. In the end, I found it to be a better coffee table book than a travel guide as many locations (that I have been to) had numerous omissions of services and local activities.

I always read reviews on Amazon about items I want to buy - I usually actually will not buy anything that has a lot of neg. input on the product - The Title of this book SOLD me. In truth , this is like a very mini size table book or bathroom book that as a diver, would not keep your attention to actually read the whole thing. Save your money and don't buy this one !!!! The pics are not even good in the book.

I love this book. It has some wonderful details not normally found in dive books, such as suggested dive operators and little bits of information that you normally wouldn't know about unless you'd traveled to that spot previously. Great photography! Of the places I've been that are in the book, I found the information the book provided to be accurate as well. Nice coffee-table book. Everyone who visits picks it up and has to read a few pages.

I am enjoying reading about places I have been and places I want to dive. Great compilation of dive reviews from around the world.

Nothign of substance here really. I thought it could make a nice coffee table book but there's almost no pictures and the texts are pretty dry with nothing really to inspire awe or excitement.

The cover I feel is the nicest thing about it.

I am an advanced Diver for more than 15 years with over 200 dives.
So I thought this book would give me a list, to put on my check marks, where I already have been, and where to go. But I was very surprised to find not a single destination in the area of the red sea. I dove many places in Egypt and I can asure you, If you dove the 50 places of this book, but never the red sea, you will be very sorry. May be the book should be named: 50 convenient places for US citizens to dive before you die. Because there is no Cuban dive site ether.
The whole book does not contain a lot of specific or insider information, you could not find elswhere nor some impressive photos.

Regards Jo

I only wish there was a "check-off boxes" for when you personally complete these dives. I also wish there were more pictures.