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The Essential Underwater Guide to North Wales, Vol 1, by Chris Holden
The Essential Underwater Guide to North Wales, Vol 1, by Chris Holden
Chris Holden, author of The Essential Underwater Guide to North Wales, describes in his preface the 20 years it has taken to put the first volume of this book into print. He touches on how supportive his family were during that time, and thanks all the people who helped him.
The one thing he doesn't do is give himself a jolly good pat on the back. I believe he deserves it, because this book is an exceptional read.
All the dive sites from Barmouth to South Stack are described in excellent detail: copies of Admiralty charts; echo-sounder traces and photographs outlining transit points will ensure that divers unfamiliar with the sites manage to find them. The text also contains useful information about the effects of tides and any unusual currents.
The icing on the cake is the detail behind the descriptions of the sites: archive photographs of wrecks and articles retrieved from them; photos of the grave sites where mariners from wrecks were buried; copies of a newspaper article from 1830; and a 1748 transcript describing the shocking state of local charts.
This is why it took the author 20 years to put this book together - it's a must for anyone who intends to dive this area.
Brendan O'Brien
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The Essential Underwater Guide to North Wales, Vol 1, by Chris Holden (Calgo Publications, ISBN 095450660). Softback, 240pp, £16.95
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