Water and Light: A Diver's Journey to a Coral Reef

This is the best book about scuba diving I've ever read and should be read by anyone and everyone that is interested in scuba diving. It does a fabulous job of describing the great things about scuba diving without telling you what you already know. That said, it is also a great story and would probably be enjoyed by non-scuba divers. This is a great gift idea for a diving inclined loved one. One warning... one of the reviewers recommended reading this to get your diving fix when you aren't going to be able to get underwater for a while; NOT TRUE. I found the exact opposite, this book only heightened my desire to go diving to near pathological levels! If you've read this, I'd also recommend reading Neutral Buoyancy by Tim Ecott which is another good book about diving. It has more history and straight information than this book.

Stephen Harrigan has captured the most enjoyable account of his Diving adventures. I felt myself re-living the events and relating them to my own modest enoyable times spent in the Caribbean recently. Superbly written and hard to put down. Makes airplane flights disappear. Happily discovered we are in the same City too.

I was in tears by the end of the first chapter-- I thought I was one of a FEW who feels more at home underwater than on the surface. I don't get to dive very often (family, etc.) but whenever I need to "dive", I pull out this book & I'm in Heaven. Harrigan's descriptions of not only what he sees but what feelings these visions invoke move me beyond words, as I think they would anyone who feels the ocean in their blood.

When people want to know what it's like to dive, I give them this book. Harrigan has captured the essence of scuba diving. He has nearly expressed the inexpressible.

UT Press plans to re-issue this book in late 98 or 1999. This book simply gets it right. Without falling into the nature writing trap of endless superlatives, Harrigan lyrically describes what it's like to dive and appreciate the ocean. The book is full of interesting bits of natural history and biology, as well as amusing anecdotes from the author's actual experiences in Grand Turk. Turtles, dolphins, a whale shark, octopi, sharks, lobsters, the usual suspects among reef fish and Harrigan himself all are examined, explained, and ultimately, understood. Harrigan is a writer who dives, and the prose in places is exceptional. See his description of seeing a sea turtle from below ("like a rock that sprouted wings.") More importantly, he writes like an aficionado of the sport, not another ignorant but curious reporter. His enthusiasm for the subject, combined with his talent as a wordsmith, elevates this book to the same level as terrestrial classics like John Muir's "The Mountains of California." Nearly anyone who has been diving in the Caribbean, both vacationers and divemasters, who couldn't find the words to express what they felt upon surfacing, will appreciate this book. This novel should become a cult classic in the diving community.