Including Indonesia from Bali to Raja Ampat; Malaysia; the Philippines; Thailand and Singapore, the authors of this book have attempted to write an all-encompassing guide to diving in most of South-east Asia.
The book offers a weighty 300-plus pages stuffed full of useful information, personal experiences and photographs as lush as the underwater environment they portray.
It covers one of the world's most diverse marine environments, and it serves not only as a guide-book but as a shopping list of possibilities for those lucky world-travelling divers choosing their next place to visit.
The authors state that they have visited all the places featured in this volume, so describe with some authority the vast number of different dive sites.
It doesn't feel like one of those guide-books that simply regurgitates information gleaned from others. Not only that, but the book is punctuated with personal impressions from people on the ground, as well as the authors' own enthusiastic anecdotes about particular places or life-forms.
My only criticism is that, with everything apparently so wonderful, how does the reader make a choice between Kri Island and Layang Layang, or perhaps between Puerto Galera and Manado?
I'm glad I don't have to make those sorts of decisions, but I have put this book on my bookshelf for future reference!
John Bantin
Footprint Travel Guide
ISBN: 9781906098506
Softback, 336pp, £20
