Tim Simond’s new coffee table book, Dive in Style, includes coverage of 26 different dive destinations spanning the globe.  For each destination, Tim features a single luxury or “stylish” resort and dive center, plus underwater photographs and descriptions of local diving. With only 2-4 pages dedicated to each destination’s local diving, the book isn’t meant to be a thorough guide to destination diving. Rather, it is a nice overview of luxury resorts and diving at specific destinations around the world. 

The above-water photographs of the resorts and dive centers are great, and each location has a useful “at a glance” section that gives a summary of useful facts ranging from from a list of the airlines that service the destination to the ratio of guests to staff.  The diving spreads contain representative photography of what to expect when during a dive.  The appendix features a nice, seasonal temperature guide for all of the book’s destinations.  This is really useful; before I leave for a trip to an unfamiliar destination, I’m always scrambling to figure out what wetsuit to bring!

Dive in Style isn’t an underwater photography book, and if you’re looking for a coffee table book featuring amazing marine imagery, this isn’t it.  Dive in Style is targeted at divers looking for a luxury holiday at locations with both fantastic diving and enough amenities to keep the rest of the family happy.  Trying to convince your family to go on a nice holiday at a dive destination?  Buy this book and have a look through it with your spouse. :)