Customer Reviews

Snorkel Bob's Reality (& Get Down) Guide to Hawaii, 3rd Edition

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We stumbled into the Snorkel Bob phenomenon early in our first visit to the Kona Coast, and we were grateful for the no-poop attitude. We found a couple of lovely little restaurants, a terrific massage place, and even used some of the snorkel advice.

No, it's not a complete guide, but it helped us to avoid some of the standard-tourist pitfalls and to enjoy the place, not the prefab experiences offered by some of the land sharks.

And, yes--horrors--occasionally he mentions environmental and native-Hawaiian political issues. We think they're worth bringing up.

It's a relaxed bunch of hints from someone who lives there. Take it for what it is and enjoy it.

The writing style of this book is tongue in cheek and can be a bit tiresome, but the information given is right on the money! Blunt and to the point about what to see and what to avoid, Snorkel Bob also gives detailed information about all the beaches on the islands - which are best for swimming, snorkeling, diving, children as well as what time of year to go to each beach and what amenities are available at each. A real time saver!

This edition is dated 1997. If you are reading this review, then you will be far better served by the '02 edition. amazon doesn't have it, but snorkelbob dot com does. It's updated with a reference index and many excellent maps. I, Snorkel Bob, cannot get penetration with the phantom amazon, so here's hoping you can get this right. Hail Atlantis! & Hana Hou!

Sometimes you take a trip to a perfect place, for instance, Hawaii, but you feel strange--where do you find the instructions for the beach barbeques, snorkel gear, luaus, and umbrella drinks that you have enjoyed from afar in many a Gidget movie, but never really had hand's on experience with? Answer: in Snorkel Bob's cool little book. We lost or gave away our old copy, from a former vacation, and I'm ordering a second one before another trip now. Snorkel Bob is the tongue in cheek John Muir of Hawaii, with his adventures, attitude, and strangely lovely philosophy helping you plan a trip & enjoy it. "What is the feeling? What is the not feeling?" he asks. I feel that this book is amazing and as lulling as an umbrella drink, almost.

If you are into offbeat humor, this is worth reading even if snorkeling in Hawaii isn't in your future. It does have very good and specific information on snorkeling. It also has reasonable information on non-aquatic sights and things to do, though only the VERY high points. And has reviews of resturaunts and places to stay, including a few very cheap ones that won't be featured prominently in your typical travel guide. The maps are useless. Don't use it as your only travel guide on a trip. But it is useful, if snorkeling is high on your priorities there. Of limited value otherwise (as the title suggests).

I've used the book several times and lent it out several times. Once it was lost and bought again.

It's a great guide for the fist, second or third timer in Hawaiier. It'll save you time and money on the Islands and it'll give you some understanding and appreciation of them, too.

For me and those I dragged to Hawaii with me, the most important part of the book were all of the great tips on good places to spend a good amount of time with your face under water looking at the fish and all of the people looking at the fish.

It probably shouldn't have been my only guide book, but it was. I'm gonna go ahead and spend the $18 on the newer edition and see how that works out.

He uses "I" a lot.

Chris Little
KFI Radio, Los Angeles

This isn't totally useless, but it's not all that great either. Allusions are tough to decipher and the writing is more "cute" than informative (or funny for that matter). No maps and disappointingly little of use for snorkelers, which is interesting given the man's business. It's not even as pointed as you would think, although it does get a bit vulgar and enviro-political (oh goodie) at points. Book is from 1997 so some reviews may be out of date.

The guy has writing talent but generally misses the mark. You'll find better info on Hawaii in any number of other guides.

It should be the guide book you keep on the side, for fun, like a mistress. Sort of like the I Ching of guide books, I found myself opening the book at random for hilarious bits of insight.

If you need to find something specific this guide book probably won't help you, but it will entertain you. After a long morning of snorkelling (what else?) my husband and I wanted to find a nearby restaurant for lunch. We'd left our other guide book in our room, so we earnestly consulted Snorkel Bob. We read reviews of several lackluster restaurants until we got to a restaurant Snorkel Bob raved about. Because of the food or the ambience? No, because this was the place where Snorkel Bob got tired of reviewing restaurants so he got drunk. Did this help us figure out where to eat lunch? No. But it put us in such a carefree frame of mind that we decided to just drive until we found pizza, which turned out to be exactly the right thing for us to do.

This book does contains some useful information which should come in handy during vacation. It is also delivered in a really off-beat humorous way.

Unfortunately, if you can't get into the humor, it will be a very painful digging operation for the content. I would suggest reading a few pages in your local bookstore before purchasing.

In retrospect, I probably would not have purchased this book if I had an example of the writing style.

I certainly wouldn't pay money for this book.
It had a small amount of good info, but in the end I felt it wasn't worth suffering through the rest to find.

I agree with the other reviewers who were disappointed in the lack of snorkeling info and maps.

I skimmed most of the book and was sick of SB at the end.