Diving Book Reviews:
The Essential Underwater Guide to North Wales Volume Two
South Stack to Colwyn Bay by Chris Holden
ISBN 978-0-9545066-1-2
The Underwater Guide to North Wales is an intensely detailed description of dive sites around Anglesey from South Stack near Holyhead to Colwyn Bay near Conwy. The book is rammed full of facts about dives sites all along the coast as well as providing details of slips, dive shops and charter boats available. There are detailed local maps of each area adapted from admiralty charts that give a good feel of what to expect from a dive site. Photos of surface are used to help locate each site along with map references and GPS coordinates. There are also photos of wrecks before they sank and a selection of underwater shots.
Some very nice features of the book are the use of the subdivisions into boat and shore dives and the icons used to give a quick overview of what to expect from the site (e.g. strong currents, the presence of ferries etc). Chris Holden has done an immense amount of research to put this book together and I doubt there is anyone out there more knowledgeable about the area than him. If you are planning a diving trip to this area then the Underwater Guide to North Wales is an essential buy. If you live and dive locally then it really is a must. Even if you don't, perhaps buying it might convince you that North Wales is worth a trip!
Diver by Tony Groom
ISBN 978-1-906266-06-6
Diver is author Tony Groom's personal account of life as a mine clearance diver in the Royal Navy and as a commercial diver in the oil and gas industry. It describes the rigorous training he went through to become a clearance diver and then follows up with entertaining and sometimes horrifying accounts of the things he has experienced during his career. This includes his time spent serving in the Falklands War where he was left to handle unexploded bombs on board ships which were simultaneously under attack by air raids.
As this is the first book I have been asked to review at dive site directory I was a little concerned what to write if I didn't enjoy it, but fortunately I couldn't put it down so I don't have that problem. Humorous and compelling, this book will have you laughing aloud and turning the page in anticipation of what is going to happen next. You have to remind yourself on occasion that this is a description of somebody's life experiences rather than a fictional story. I can really recommend this as an excellent read to anyone and everyone. You don't have to be interested in war history, commercial diving or even a diver to find his book fascinating but if you are a diver it will enable you to comprehend how difficult it must be hunting for mines in limited visibility. Never again will that first leisure dive of the season in murky UK waters seem so difficult!
Scuba Diving Equipment Reviews:
Brightlites
Suppliers of the LED Lenser Frogman dive torch
The LED Lenser Frogman is a fantastic little torch that both of us at dive site directory dive with. It provides more light underwater than a lot of older, heavier and bulkier halogen torches do so can be used as a main torch. It is ideal for diving abroad as a main torch as it is light so does not add much weight to your luggage. The fact it is small enough to pack away into a BCD pocket and its excellent price also make it great as a back-up for divers who are doing cave or wreck diving. The bulbs last an incredible 100,000 hours and burn time from four AA batteries is 50 hours.
As a special offer to dive site directory users, Brightlites are offering an additional 10% discount on ALL orders, simply add the code LINK01 to your shopping basket at checkout and get an even bigger saving on the already great prices and special offers.
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