New Dive Guide for Bonaire Just Published

[KathyV]

KathyV, suggest to post one of your 3D reefs maps, like on page 232 and 233 or anyone. Your look inside does not do it justice.

al

One of the authors, Ian Popple, said that he has contacted the publisher and Amazon to fix the Look Inside for the Bonaire Guide, once it is corrected - if it still doesn't do justice to the guide I will ask him to publish an example here on SB.

Ian said that their Barbados guide will be out this month, followed by the Palm Beach, FL and then the guide for the Cayman Islands. He said that "We always try to ensure our guides have a decent mix of sites: deep/shallow, shore/boat, circular/drift, etc. but we need to feedback from divers..."

I have encouraged him to engage Scubaboard divers for feedback because we love to share information about our favorite (and not so favorite!) dives.

They recently released a guide for Fort Lauderdale, see the link below:
https://www.amazon.com/Reef-Smart-Guides-Florida-Lauderdale-ebook/dp/B07K8T7QTL/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1

 

[NDL_Diver]

Need to have them show one of the reef maps. IMHO they are what make this book soooo special compared to others.

 

[NDL_Diver]

Will be in Bonaire in 7 weeks. Will be using the maps for dive planning. Will provide feedback.

 

[tursiops]

Need to have them show one of the reef maps. IMHO they are what make this book soooo special compared to others.

Here is an example, for Buddy Reef (shown under fair-use aspect of copyright law):

 

[homerdoc]

I was very satisfied with the kindle download. The maps are fairly true as best as I can tell from the dives I did last week. What was a pure bonus to me was I could lay out the dive with my fairly nervous wife and daughter and explain exactly what we were going to do before the dive (like on the salt pier or hilma hooker). It was cool to do this the night before. They were much more relaxed during the dive knowing exactly where we were on the dive and what to expect.

I really do recommend this to fathers traveling with less experienced wives and kids.

 

[Kharon]

Kindle just doesn't ring my chimes. I'd need to see at least one reef map of a site I'm familiar with and a list of which 26 sites have a detailed dive site reef map before I spring for the paper version. It worries me that they didn't publish even one of the maps that is supposed to make this guide so special. Not in Bonaire and not even a look inside of Florida.

The Dive Guide Bonaire was said to have wonderful maps of all the sites and they are pretty useless. More of a cartoon joke than a map. I also bought a digital snorkeling guide that was supposed to have incredable detail. Eh, not so much. Returned for a refund.

 

[Ian Popple]

Hi everyone. Nice to be connected with so many dive enthusiasts! As KathyV mentioned, Amazon's Look Inside function for our Bonaire guidebook is a bit garbled at the moment. We're not sure why. They are working on the problem and will also upload the Look Inside function for the Fort Lauderdale guidebook this week. In the meantime. There's a sample book on the Reef Smart website of the Barbados guidebook (located here: https://reefsmartguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Barbados_Dive_Guide_SampleWeb.pdf) which hopefully provides decent insight into how these guidebooks differ from others. All our guidebooks have the same look and feel and the 3D models and maps are of similar quality. Hope this helps. All the best!

 

[tursiops]

Kindle just doesn't ring my chimes.

You can read the Kindle file on a phone, a tablet, a laptop, a desktop.....surely you have one of those? The Kindle version is $10, less than a sandwich at Between Two Buns.

 

[NDL_Diver]

I wish they would show sample of Bari reef or Karpata reef with the sand channels, anchor location....or the Hooker.

Anyway, best guide on Bonaire I purchased. Will see in a few weeks how well the maps work out.

One other, the last page said the maps are available in a laminated version that can be used underwater and dive planning. Where can I purchase those?

 

[Ian Popple]

I wish they would show sample of Bari reef or Karpata reef with the sand channels, anchor location....or the Hooker.

Anyway, best guide on Bonaire I purchased. Will see in a few weeks how well the maps work out.

One other, the last page said the maps are available in a laminated version that can be used underwater and dive planning. Where can I purchase those?

They are available on Amazon and on reefsmartguides.com (specifically here: Bonaire – Reef Smart Guides). If you want to check them out before you purchase they can be found in dive centers, gift shops and even supermarkets across Bonaire.