Best Dives' Snorkeling Adventures, 2nd edition (Best Dives, 5)

Best Dives' Snorkeling Adventures By Joyce & Jon Huber If your idea of a fun vacation means rubbing noses with a friendly dolphin, hand feeding tame stingrays, fanning for treasure around shipwrecks or getting a manicure from a cleaner shrimp, you'll love "Best Dives' Snorkeling Adventures, 2nd edition. Anyone who can slip on a mask and peer beneath the ocean's surface will treasure this 214-page travel guide to top marine parks, shipwrecks and shallow coral gardens--from Hanauma Bay, Oahu to the Stones of Atlantis off Bimini. Resorts with beach-entry sites--many just a few yards off shore-- highlight the text. Adventures include captive and wild dolphin swims, manatee encounters, turtle byways, the first snorkel-thru museum, sail-snorkel trips, kayak dives, and off-beat excursions such as the Oceanic Society's cruise to Midway Island, an area vibrant with nesting sea birds, monk seals, green turtles and spinner dolphins. Destination chapters cover the Whitsunday Islands of Australia, the Bahamas Out Islands, Bermuda, Belize, Turks & Caicos, Yucatan, Florida, Hawaii and Caribbean Islands. Maps, drawings and black and white and color photos illustrate the text. Site descriptions cover average sea conditions, resident marine life and whether the area is suitable for children or first- time snorkelers. Each site is rated for visibility, marine life and water clarity with from one to five "starfish." Resort properties listed have reef snorkeling off the beach or nearby some with dolphin lagoons. Plus, "Best Dives' Snorkeling Adventures, 2nd ed" offers travel information, special cruises, resorts, first-aid tips for coral cuts and sea stings, a special chapter on sharks, underwater photo procedures and an introduction to gear for newcomers.