Scubafriends Network

Some things don’t change – Dive Atlas of the World is still number 1. But some newcomers made a surprisingly good showing, such as the Lonely Planet Sardinia (joining the list at #3). Read on for the whole list.

Here are the top ten: figures in brackets show the previous year’s position.

1. Dive Atlas of the World by Jack Jackson – 300 pages detailing some of the world’s best dive sites. (1)

2. Dive: The Ultimate Guide to 60 of the World’s Top Dive Locations by Monty Halls, Describes 60 of the world’s best diving areas, and highlights specific dives not to be missed whilst you are there (2)

3. Lonely Planet Sardinia by Paula Hardy – Complete, practical regional guide for independent travellers. Includes dedicated activities chapter including the best dive spots. (–)

4. Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World, by Tim Ecott – Tales of the characters and episodes in the history of diving: the sponge divers, the second world war saboteurs, the free divers, etc. (7)

5. Coral Reef Guide Red Sea: The Definitive Guide by Ewald Lieske, Robert Myers – Covering jellyfish, corals, nudibranchs, starfish, sea urchins, fishes and turtles of the Red Sea. (–)

6. Dive in Style by Tim Simond, An illustrated book combining the best of travel, lifestyle and nature photography (4)

7. Coral Reef Fishes: Indo-Pacific and Caribbean by Ewald Lieske, Robert Myers, A compact, guide to over 2000 species of fish you might see whilst diving on coral reefs. (3)

8. Diving & Snorkeling Baja, California by Walt Peterson – Guide to the dive sites of Baja California. (–)

9. The Blue Planet, The BBC television series on DVD – action shots of the intriguing behaviour of the underwater world with commentary by David Attenborough. (9)

10. Shipwrecks from the Egyptian Red Sea by Ned Middleton – Eight years of research went into this accurate and definitive guide to the wrecks of the Egyptian Red Sea. (–)