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Great Barrier Reef Diving Guide by Robert Rinaldi
Great Barrier Reef Diving Guide by Robert Rinaldi
Is it possible to cover an area 2300km by 270km, containing more than 2500 isolated reefs, 400 coral species and 1500 kinds of fish, in a single dive guide?
Robert Rinaldi's Great Barrier Reef Diving Guide refers to 27 reefs along Queensland's vast coast. Each entry includes a double-page illustration of the dive site, with arrows indicating the recommended dive profile and insets telling you where the reef lies.
The text guides you through each dive, with descriptions of what you can expect to see, any dangers to watch out for, and a few tips for photographers. A guide to the fish of the Barrier Reef is included.
On close inspection, however, this book suffers from a few arguably compromising flaws. In the ntroduction, Rinaldi tells us that the book is meant for divers to refer to before leaving home, and that the dives described should be treated only as examples of what to expect and not as specific guides.
However, he then embarks on a step-by-step tour of his selected reefs. Sitting at home and contemplating a trip to Australia, do we really need to know, for example, at what point on a certain dive you might want to turn on your torch?
Given that Rinaldi does go into such detail, the accompanying pictures, although colourful, would be more effective if they were a bit more varied and linked more closely to the text.
The book is laid out according to the most common itineraries available to diving tourists from a number of starting points. The first chapter, for example, covers a group of seven reefs accessible from Cairns; the next focuses on a selection of reefs close to Heron Island.
The idea is a good one, but more care could have been taken to differentiate between the groups of itineraries, and to highlight the interesting features of each area described. As it is, there are some useful pointers and facts, but you have to trawl through a lot of text to find them.
One site I know well is the wreck of the Yongala. Rinaldi rightly states that it is one of the most beautiful wrecks you can visit, and he does cover most of the highlights in the text.
This dive site is a must for any Australia-bound diver, on a par with the Red Sea's Thistlegorm, but had I been planning a travel itinerary with the help of this guide, it would have been quite easy to brush over the Yongala entry.
All that said, the book is colourful, and does indicate what you can expect. If all Rinaldi intended was to help you firm up your travel plans, he has succeeded.
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Great Barrier Reef Diving Guide by Robert Rinaldi, Swan Hill (01743 235651), softback,£17
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