Diving Bali: The Underwater Jewel of Southeast Asia, by David Pickell and Wally Siagian
It’s too little known that Bali is a superb dive and snorkeling center. Only in the last 10 years has the island’s 600 kilometers of coastline and offshore islands become famous among the diving cognoscenti for its varied marine life, outstanding visibility and sensational drop-offs.
Despite the explosion of tourism since the 1990s, Bali still has at least 10 very attractive sites each offering different skill levels – from shipwrecks to mangrove-lined shorelines, from spectacular walls to steep coral-covered ridges – and just about every other marine environment in between. Abundant sea life can be enjoyed on the clear current-swept reefs off Sanur, Nusa Dua, Menjangan, Pemuteran, Nusa Lembongan and Padangbai - all accessible by boat.
In the early days of the sport, dive enthusiasts had to rely on a paucity of available literature, employ guides proficient in English or learn Indonesian. If you wanted to identify all of the animals you can see on a diving trip to Bali, you’d have to pack half a dozen expensive field guides.
Now amateurs and those really serious about diving are fortunate to have on hand a Diving Bali. Introducing readers to the unique qualities of Bali’s reefs, this a first-rate extremely literate dive guide containing essays on reef ecology, local geography, charts of site conditions and elevations, and color photographs by some of the top underwater professionals in the business.
“
Bali’s greatest charm...is its wide range and variety of sites,” write the authors. “You can dive on a steel shipwreck. Or on a wooden shipwreck. Off vertical drop-offs. Over sand slopes. Off black, volcanic outcrops Off limestone shores. Among huge bommies. In roaring currents. In quiet bays. Along deep, coral-covered ridges. Over seagrass beds in three meters of water.” In other words, the island has it all.
The authors also point out that Bali is also one of the best places to learn how to dive: “Above water, the physical and cultural beauty of the island are legendary, which means that unlike so many other great diving areas, there is always something to do or see during your surface intervals.” Moreover, of all the dive locales in Indonesia, Bali has the greatest concentration of dive operators.
There’s a brief introduction on the island’s history, how to get around, practical information on the different dive and snorkeling sites, prices and contact details for dive operators, live aboards and dive resorts. In the backmatter is a passionate essay on the beleaguered green turtle, a “Further Reading” section and an above-average Index.
Scaled, heavily annotated four color marine maps are provided for every important site, based on accurate charts, GPS data, complete with glossaries on Indonesian terms, thorough ground-level surveys and deep mapping dives conducted by the authors themselves, as well masterful physical and political maps illustrated with elevation tints.
There’s a meticulously detailed map of famous Menjangan off the island’s northwest coast, and an enthralling diagrammatic drawing of the Liberty ship that was torpedoed by the Japanese and sank off the north coast of Bali in 1942. These and other maps must have taken weeks to create.
The authors David Pickell and Wally Siagian – marrying the skills of a professional writer and a professional dive instructor with a combined 25 years of knowledge and experience diving the island – have created a masterwork of a guidebook sub-genre – the action guide.
Diving Bali: The Underwater Jewel of Southeast Asia by David Pickell and Wally Siagian, Periplus Editions, Singapore 2000, 24 maps, 224 pages, ISBN 962-593-323-9.
Available for Rp165,000 at Periplus Bookshops in the Bali Galeria in Kuta, Warung Made in Seminyak, Ngurah Rai Airport and in Gramedia bookstores in the Matahari in Kuta Square.
For comments and suggestions,
please write : pakbill2003@yahoo.com
Copyright@2003 PakBill
You can read all past articles of
Toko Buku at www.BaliAdvertiser.biz
