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Dive & Travel books, DVDs and videos from Amazon.co.uk.

Some favourites of mine and a quick route to buy dive and travel books, DVDs and videos.

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The Darkness Beckons: The History and Development of Cave Diving 
By Martin Farr - the best cave diving book I have ever read
This second edition on cave diving brings the story up-to-date with accounts of the developments that have taken place since its original publication in 1980. Apart from activity in traditional areas much of the new exploration has taken place in clear water caves in Florida, the West Indies, Mexico, South Africa and Australia, areas of interest to open water divers as well as cavers.

Diving in Darkness: Beneath Rock, Under Ice, into Wrecks
By Martin Farr - the eagerly awaited follow up.
The essential guide to penetration diving.

The Blue Planet - 3 DVD Box Set
It is the classic BBC DVD with stunning underwater photography from around the world.
The definitive story of the blue section of our planet - the oceans - which run from the shores to the open depths of the sea. Programmes include: The Blue Planet, The Deep, Open Ocean, Frozen Seas, Seasonal Seas, Coral Seas, Tidal Seas, Coasts, Making Waves, Deep Trouble.

The Big Blue [1988]
The ultimate free diving based movie - stunningly photographed.
A hit in Europe but a flop in the US--where it was trimmed, rescored, and given a new ending--Luc Besson's The Big Blue has endured as a minor cult classic for its gorgeous photography (both on land and underwater) and dreamy ambiance. Jean-Marc Barr is a sweet and sensitive but passive presence as Jacques, a diver with a unique connection to the sea. He has the astounding ability to slow his heartbeat and his circulation on deep dives, "a phenomenon that's only been observed in whales and dolphins until now," remarks one scientist. Kooky New York insurance adjuster Joanna (Rosanna Arquette at her most delightfully flustered and endearingly sexy best) melts after falling into his innocent baby blues, and she follows him to Italy, where he's continuing a lifelong competition with boyhood rival Enzo (Jean Reno in a performance both comic and touching).

Besson's first English-language production looks more European than Hollywood, and it suffers from a tin ear for the language. At times it feels more like an IMAX undersea documentary than a drama about free divers, but the lush and lovely images create a fairy tale dimension to Jacques's story, a veritable Little Merman. More dolphin than man, he's so torn between earthly love and aquatic paradise that even his dreams call him to the sea (in a sequence more eloquent than any speech).

Deep Descent: Adventure and Death Diving the Anrea Doria
By Kevin F. McMurray. An in-depth look at the danger-loving divers of the Andrea Doria, the so-called 'Everest' of deep-sea diving, from a writer and photographer who has met the wreck, and her victims, firsthand. On a dense, foggy evening in July of 1956, the Italian cruise liner Andrea Doria, bound for New York, was struck broadside by another cruiseship, killing 51 people. Although she now rests silently on the sandy bottom of the Atlantic, nearly a half-century later the Doria continues to take lives (twelve since 1981). Yet a small, fanatical group of scuba divers continues to challenge her, pushing themselves far beyond the limits of recreational divers, to the very limits of human endurance. In DEEP DESCENT, Kevin F. McMurray, author and veteran Doria diver, takes readers inside this elite club of men and women who dare to go deeper, farther and close to the edge than prudence of common sense might allow.

The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths
H., Jr. Hickam and Bernie Chowdhury In 1992 father-son diving duo - Chris and Chrissy Rouse - died tragically in an expedition to the recently discovered Second World War U-boat, the U-Who. Their deaths were the result of what divers dread most, decompression sickness, commonly called "the bends". In this book the author recreates this terrible event in an effort to understand it and shed light on man's obsession with the unknown and the extreme. Through the story of the Rouses' lives and deaths, as well as through accounts of other expeditions, he aims to capture the ethos of the diving world, the impulse to explore and the constant spectre of death.

Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World
By Tim Ecott In Neutral Buoyancy, BBC journalist Tim Ecott recounts his ongoing adventures in the "liquid world" of scuba diving--from battling rip-tides off the Dorset coast to exploring the shark-rich waters of the Caribbean--musing along the way on the history and meaning of man's fascination with diving, and reflecting on how his underwater experience has reshaped his lifeIn the shock of bereavement, Tim Ecott went scuba diving in the Indian Ocean. What began as an underwater excursion to displace his grief became an obsession that has shaped his life. In "Neutral Buoyancy" he shares his passion for the sea. Gripping tales of historical diving bells, Greek sponge-divers, World War II frogmen and record-setting breath-hold divers are laced with captivating accounts of the author's own experience underwater in an elegant blend of arcane history, vivid reportage and memoir. The reader is taken from Ireland to Austria, Florida to Papua New Guinea and the islands of the Bahamas and the Seychelles. "Neutral Buoyancy" is a journey filled with exotic, eccentric human characters competing for space with misunderstood sharks, weeping turtles, smiling dolphins and erotically shaped sea slugs. This unique and inspiring insight into our relationship with the deep will allow even the most timid swimmer to lose themselves underwater.

The Rapture of the Deep: And Other Dive Stories You Probably Shouldn't Know

The Rapture of the Deep is fast paced and rich in content, consisting of humorous anecdotes, insightful histories, underwater descriptions, and terrifying close calls. The diving stories relate events seen once in a thousand dives. Native cultures are revealed with an awareness that only someone who has lived in those lands can describe. The book's lighter side is the combination of underwater adventure mixed with after-hours escapades (imagine Cousteau extending his documentaries to include closing time in the local bars). The descriptions of coral reef life are written in a way that non-diving readers will be as intrigued as the experts.

Featuring stories from:
Antigua, Australia, Bermuda, Bonaire, California, Fiji, Guam, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Palau, Philippines, Ponape, Saint Lucia, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Tonga, Truk, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vanuatu, Western Samoa, and Yap.
Includes over 20 color photos and maps

Essentials of Deeper Sport Diving
By Lippmann It's difficult to find good, complete information on advanced diving technique. Lippmann covers the subjects needed by anyone visiting the deeper waters - physics & physiology, gear, gases and guidelines. If you're starting to ask the technical questions that weren't covered in your training books, here you go

Deeper Into Diving
By Lippmann For more fantastic insight into deeper diving techniques, Lippmann is again the man with the plan. A great read

The Cave Divers

Those who think that exploring underwater caves is too exotic a pastime to be of much interest will change their minds after reading this work by Burgess (Diving Off the Beaten Track), author of books and articles about hunting for sunken treasure. Burgess is among those intrepid pioneers who have made major discoveries in underwater archaeology--finding not only huge caverns that are in effect vast air pockets but also inundated caves whose artifacts give evidence of human habitation, probably during the last ice age. Although chapters on the evolution of diving equipment and underwater cameras will be of scant interest to general readers, there are exciting accounts of expeditions in Europe, the Yucatan peninsula, the Bahamas and especially Florida, rich in significant underwater sites--one of which proved that humans inhabited the Southeast almost 7,000 years earlier than scholars originally thought. Life-threatening dangers abound, including nitrogen buildup in the blood (which causes the bends), disorientation, terrible visibility and entanglement in guide ropes leading from the entry point, which has killed many underwater explorers. Of special poignancy is the author's recounting of the accidental death of a favorite diving companion. This is an interesting mix of adventure and archaeology that probes one of the earth's last frontiers.--Publishers Weekly, September 28, 1998

Fatal Depth: Deep Sea Diving, China Fever & the Wreck of the Andrea Doria

At 11.10pm on July 25, 1956, the luxurious Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria collided with the Stockholm 45 miles south of Nantucklet. Half a century later the wreck of the Andrea Doria is still claiming lives. Professional and amateur divers the world over consider the Andrea Doria to be the Everest of diving. At 225 feet below the surface, the wreck lies at the very edge of human endurance and accomplishment: ordinary air becomes toxic, and the divers who go there suffer nitrogen narcosis or "the rapture of the deep". Symptoms include confusion, lack of coordination, and perhaps most deadly of all, a loss of the ability to make clear decisions. As a result, divers use TriMix, an exotic blend of oxygen, nitrogen and helium to descend through the strong currents, rusted metal and twisted wires to seek fame and fortune in the form of china teacups and plates. For serious wreck divers, these fragile artefacts are genuine proof of their abilities. During the summer of 1998 three elite divers lost their lives, all on separate dives from the top dive boat out of Montauk, the 65-foot Seeker. Craig Sicola was clearly suffering from "china fever" before he went down. He'd handled teacups brought up by veteran Doria diver Gary Gentile, and the gleam in Craig's eye was unmistakable. Craig dived on June 24, 1998. A few hours later his body bobbed to the surface. He was carrying a plate. Joe Haberstroh, the award-winning Newsday reporter, watched events unfold during the summer of 1998. In this book he re-creates what was the pride of the Italian fleet, how it sank, the dangers of the deep, and the gripping personal stories of the men who live or die for a teacup from its remains.

Down Time

More than 35 passages from novelists, journalists, poets, playwrights, essayists, and scientists detail an intertwined passion for diving and the written word in this collection. From Robert Stone's portrayal of a diver who faces the terrorizing prospect of his air running out to Clare Booth Luce's search for the treasures of the underwater realm, every passage reveals a perspective of the world that only divers have known. Humor columnist Dave Barry battles a lobster and explains why staying on the ocean's surface is like "going to the circus and staring at the outside of a tent." From Rangiroa to the Red Sea, from deep within caverns to the eerie light under ice, from the lethal silliness of nitrogen narcosis to the elation of soaring over unfathomable depths, every selection, like every dive, is a unique experience.

Fireside Diver

Many of the world's best known divers share their experiences in this collection of stories of memorable underwater adventures. Encounters with whales, sharks, and giant squid; dives to the USS Monitor and into sunken mine shafts; and unusual situations of all kinds serve as settings for these entertaining tales, where the unexpected is common. Contributors: Dick Anderson, Bonnie Cardone, Ellis Cross, Richard Ellis, Rod Farb, Stephen Frink, Howard Hall, Eric Hanauer, Hillary Hauser, Jack McKenney, Chris Newbert, Carl Roessler, Marty Snyderman, Bob Talbot and Stan Waterman

Introduction to Technical Diving
By Rob Palmer. It has now been some years since Rob Palmer died. For this reason, the very latest in Technical Diving techniques will not be found within the pages of this book. Nevertheless, Rob Palmer was nothing if not a great pioneer of technical diving. Whenever this man's knowledge and expertise was coupled with his ability to teach and write, then we were treated to a book which will always have a great deal to offer. Even today, this book still has a great deal to teach the modern diver. "An Introduction to Technical Diving" is exactly that - an introduction. Speaking as a scuba diver with over 30 years experience, I am happy to recommend this book to anyone contemplating that next step in their diving "career." By this, I mean, if you are seriously thinking of progressing from ordinary scuba diving to the more complicated aspects of technical diving, then you could do a lot worse than read this book before doing anything else at all. The book will explain so much that sometimes appears to be a foreign language to those who are not technical divers. After that, the reader can simply make up their own mind about that next step.

An all-round first class introduction to a very important topic.

Deep Into Blue Holes
By Rob Palmer Andros is the largest of the Bahamian Islands and one of the least explored. Beneath the surface, the rock is riddled with caves formed underneath many thousands of years ago and presents one of the ultimate challenges in cavediving. First explored by George Benjamin and filmed by Cousteau, the exploration ended when two divers died - one of whose bodies has never been discovered. In 1981 British cavedivers began new exploration and British and American divers continued exploration in 1986 and 1987. It was during this time that they discovered spectacular inland blue holes, reached new depths using underwater technology and made many new discoveries. This book tells the story of this adventure into one of the last true frontiers of exploration - of the triumphs and tragedies, of the caves and the people who risk their lives to discover their secrets. The author, Rob Palmer is one of the world's foremost underwater explorers. He was awarded the first Colin Mcleod Prize for outstanding contributions to international diving activities by the British Sub Aqua Club.

Caverns Measureless to Man
By Shek Exley This is quite simply the best cave diving book - ever! HARDBACK (expensive)

Caverns Measureless to Man
By Shek Exley This is quite simply the best cave diving book - ever! HARDBACK (Cheaper version)

Caverns Measureless to Man
By Shek Exley This is quite simply the best cave diving book - ever! PAPERBACK (even cheaper!)

The Taming of the Slough: A Comprehensive History of Peacock Springs  
By Shek Exley A stunning book on Peacock Springs by Shek

Technical Diving From The Bottom Up; 
By Kevin Gurr A great guide through basic configs and physiology, through mixed gas diving and into rebreathers. A great read

Shadow Divers; 
By Robert Kurson Solving the mystery of a WW2 U boat. Thrilling

Deep, Dark and Dangerous; 
By Gary Gentile Deep, Dark, and Dangerous: Adventures and Reflections on the Andrea Doria

Marine fish and invertebrates of Northern Europe; 
By Frank Emil Moen & Erling Svensen
"Marine fish and invertebrates of Northern Europe" is written for anyone with a general interest in marine animal life, and who would like to learn more about their way of life and behaviour, about the role they play in the drama of nature, and the benefit and nuisance they are to man. The main portion of the book is arranged in such a way that the different animal species are presented in a natural, systematic order. More than one thousand magnificent colour photos of animals taken in their natural environment support the informative text highlighting the characteristics of each animal. "Marine fish & invertebrates" covers the North European marine fauna and is a readable experience in itself. In addition, the book is an important aid and source of inspiration to all who delight in the ocean with its hidden life whether if be hobby, study or profession.