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The Dive Sites of the Maldives by Sam Harwood and Rob Bryning
The Dive Sites of the Maldives by Sam Harwood and Rob Bryning
A publisher once asked me to write a dive guide to Thailand.
I suggested that I was not the right person to take on that particular project as I had not even been there. He suggested that a month's trip and a few existing dive guides on the area would be all I needed.
I declined the offer and came away with a contact lost for ever and a good understanding of why so many dive guides are inaccurate.
New Holland's The Dive Sites of the Maldives is written by Sam Harwood and Rob Bryning. If you are British and have taken a liveaboard trip in the Maldives, there is a good chance you went on their boat, the mv Keema. They are well-known 'faces' on the British diving scene, often exhibiting at dive shows, and their acknowledgments section looks like a list of old friends. Rob and Sam have been well established out in the Maldives for 10 years and during that time have accrued a lot of information that I am confident is accurate! I can promise readers that they know what they are talking about and much of the guide appears to have been written from first-hand experience.
This volume follows the well-established formula seen in all the other dive guides in this New Holland series, with 170 pages of densely packed information in the form of text, maps and photographs.
It covers the atolls open to visiting divers plus some that are expected to be opened: North and South Male, Felidhoo and Mulaku, Addu, Dhaalu and Faafu, Ari, Baa, Raa and Lhaviyani. There are sections on where to stay if there are any resorts in that atoll.
The authors have been thoughtful in the way they have distributed stars to each dive site (one to five each for both scuba and snorkelling) rather than just handing out five stars to everything.
Among other symbols used is an indication as to whether the dive site is best visited during May-November or December-April, or whether it is good in either monsoon season. Each dive site is given an approximate dhoni-ride time from several nearby resort islands.
The maps distinguish between uninhabited, resort and locally inhabited islands, and indicate regular helicopter landing points useful if you prefer to avoid long boat rides.
There are brief sections devoted to the sharks of the Maldives and to manta rays.
Well done Sam and Rob, and well done New Holland and series consultant Nick Hanna for choosing the right authors. This book will be excellent for anybody wishing to dive in the Maldives, whether island-based or on a liveaboard. I know my copy will be well-used!
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The Dive Sites of the Maldives by Sam Harwood and Rob Bryning, New Holland (0171 724 7773), softback £16
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