The Cave Divers

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Summary: The adventures of the original technical divers
Review: This book is very interesting and well written although the title is a little misleading. The book pens the more interesting diving experiences of some of histories most famous cave, spring, sump and cenote divers. It tells of their experiences in a time when the type of diving that they were doing was still new and had not yet been fully explored. Many of the stories that are in the book tell of the near death experiences and possible dangerous situations that many of these divers were faced with and yet still lived through. The chapters in the book range from the tales of some of the early cenote and cave divers and their discoveries all the way through the record setting depth attemps of Sheck Exley. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in some of the stories of the earliest and most famous technical divers or those who have an interest in some of the earlier archiology divers and the things that discovered through their expoits.

Rating:
Summary: Diving to the max.
Review: This is THE book for anyone who has any interest at all in the sport of SCUBA diving or just interested in reading about extreme high adverture.It is one of the most interesting, enjoyable and captivating books I have read in quite awhile. It puts you right there in the caves, sinks and sumps with some of the worlds best and most experienced cave divers(and some who were'nt) and lets you get a feel for what it is like to explore worlds that few will ever see. From Florida's famous Wakulla Spring Survey Project and the remains of early man found at Warm Mineral/Little Salt Springs to the HUGE underwater labyrinthss of the Yucatan Peninsula and Huautla cavern system in Mexico, each chapter is a detailed account of these adventures including maps, drawings and photos. I highly recommend this book.

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Summary: Review
Review: 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