winter sports

One of the activities that I want to pursue while in Hawaii is diving. I bought several books on Hawaii, but was particularly drawn to this diving book.

I was rather surprised that it only had an average review score of 2.5 until I noticed that one reader who favorably reviewed the book neglected to give it a rating.

The pictures are BREATHTAKING! The dives are grouped according to island - which really makes it easy. The dives give depth level, skill level required, and how to access such as boat, shore, etc.

There is specific information on each dive although once you have an interest in a dive, you might find it helpful to try to get the most recent, updated info online. This book is great to get you started!

Once again we have an excellent combination of Author and Publisher who have collaborated to provide an invaluable guide book for any diver contemplating a trip to Hawaii. "Diving Hawaii" is another Scuba Diving guide book in the medium size format favoured by Aqua Quest. These publishers have a reputation for high standards - in terms of quality of information and standard of photography, and it is easy to see why.

"Diving Hawaii" is clearly laid out with chapters on; An introduction to the Hawaiian Islands, Diving in general, the specific dive sites of Oahu, Maui, Hawaii and Kauai and local Marine Life. The book concludes with some very useful Appendixes containing; Emergency information, details of local Scuba Diving centres, miscellaneous useful numbers for visitors and some brief notes on another 20 dive sites.

Chapter One begins with an all-important historical précis of Hawaii. This gives the visitor a brief insight into the country's first Polynesian settlers, the way in which the country was then ruled by it's own system of chiefs for something like 1,000 years, the islands' discovery by Captain Cook, the importance of sugar plantations, the time when Hawaii became a US territory and, eventually (in 1959) the 50th State. All of which is followed by equally important notes on present day Hawaii and all the essential information the visitor needs to know.

Chapter 2 is an overview of Diving in general with notes on; boat, shore and night diving as well as conservation. There is also a very important and well written description of the unusual underwater lava tubes and cave formations created by the flow of volcanic lava into the sea. These are probably very different from any other form of Cave Diving found anywhere else in the world and Page 21 is rightly devoted to a full-page warning of the dangers involved here.

We now come to those Chapters individually dedicated to each of the four main islands in the Hawaiian group and these take in any smaller adjacent islands as well. Once again, we are treated to an introduction to the island itself before getting down to diving specifics. This commences with a map of the island(s) showing the primary dive sites as numbers - each of which is then described in more than adequate detail and headed by the relevant depth, experience level required and access.

Altogether a well-rounded book containing all the information required by anyone considering a diving trip to Hawaii.

According to the Author's biography on the back page, Steve Rosenberg specialises in underwater photography. As a fellow professional "Underwater Photographer & Author," I congratulate him on some truly outstanding pictures.

NM