Scuba Diving Indonesia: Recommended Reading
Diving Bali, The Underwater Jewel of Southeast Asia
Diving Bali
David Pickell and Wally Sagian
This is a great book if you are interested in diving the “Island of the Gods”. The edition shown is the revised second edition which released in May 2010 and has some significant updates on the earlier version.
The original book was published by Periplus in 2000 and has been out of print for sometime. It’s hard to find secondhand, but if you can find a copy get it because the two editions provide great insight and a huge amount of information about scuba diving in Bali.
David Pickell is a fantastic writer who manages to combine humor, fact & anecdotes in a terrific manner – his description on page 32 in both editions of the book of the four most common species of divers you will encounter at Tulamben (Aussies, Germans, Japanese & Japanese) is hilarious.
The book is meticulous in detail, but still easy to read and the dive site maps are used by every guide I have met in Bali – just buy it…
It’s available in all the book shops in Bali and many airport shops etc in SE Asia, or you can get it from Amazon on this LINK.
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Diving Indonesia’s Raja Ampat
Burt Jones & Maureen Shimlock
Raja Ampat
Burt Jones & Maureen Shimlock are members of that elite group of divers & photographers who can genuinely say they were “there” in the early days of diving in Indonesia!
They first dived in Indonesia is 1992 and made their first trip to Raja Ampat in the remote north-east of the huge archipelago in 2002.
The book is a must if you are considering a trip to this part of Indonesia – widely considered to be an integral part of the world’s most bio-diverse region.
Very well researched, written and illustrated the book both acts as a guide to the region & it’s diving and the people & their history – it’s must read before you go as it puts many things into perspective.
I particularly liked the excellent illustrations of some of the key reefs and dive sites by Ricard Buxo, formerly the Cruise Director of the SMY Ondina and the guy who introduced me to diving in Raja Ampat.
The book is widely available in Indonesian & SE Asian airports or on this LINK to Amazon.
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Scuba Diving Papua New Guinea: Recommended Reading
Four Corners – A journey in to the heart of Papua New Guinea
Kira Salak - Four Corners
Kira Salak
Although this is not a diving book, it is a great place to start if you want to get a better understanding of Papua New Guinea.
Kira Salak is quite an amazing woman who manages to combine sheer dogged determination with very strong personal courage and a tremendous ability to write interesting things…
The book is the true story of her journey through some of the wildest and hardest territory in Papua New Guinea, a feat that borders on the heroic in itself – but given the fact that she did it without outside assistance as a single white female is simply amazing!
Her descriptions of what she went through are tremendous, but what is really superb about this book is the way she gradually exposes her character to the reader so that you slowly, but surely begin to understand why she did what she did.
In the process the reader also gets an incredibly valuable insight in to the people of Papua New Guinea – the ones who live in some of the remotest and difficult places to live anywhere on earth!
I bought my copy second-hand through Amazon on this LINK – and it’s not for sale…
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The White Mary
Kira Salak - The White Mary
Kira Salak
Yes, I know… another non-diving book and a novel at that – but again it’s excellent insight in to the people of Papua New Guinea.
The book is very well written and hard to put down, I personally read it in 2 days which is incredibly fast for me.
It combines significant elements of Four Corners into a very interesting story set in some of the most difficult terrain in PNG, but it’s the characters of the local people that form a major part of the background to the central plot that made it such a great read.
I also bought my copy second-hand on Amazon and you can do that by following this LINK.
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Living Reefs of the Indo-Pacific: A Photographic Guide
Living Reefs
Rob van der Loos
Rob is both a very accomplished underwater photographer and one of the pioneers of scuba diving in Papua New Guinea’s Milne Bay Province – which is quite a combination of skill sets!
His liveaboard boat the MV Chertan has a great reputation amongst underwater photographers, particularly so amongst those interested in seeing “critters”…
Chertan’s reputation is because Rob knows where to find the best of what Milne Bay has to offer and goes out of his way to make sure you see it – which is why he has so many repeat customers.
His book is a great resource which combines great images of the weird & wonderful creatures the sea has to offer, where to find them plus suggestions on how to photograph them.
Amazon has the book available on this LINK.
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