Scuba Exceptional: Become the Best Diver You Can Be

The Scuba Series #3

by Simon Pridmore

Scuba Exceptional may be the fifth book in Simon Pridmore's Scuba series but it is the true follow up to Scuba Confidential, his first book.

Scuba Exceptional reflects the same philosophy of safe diving through the acquisition of knowledge and skills. The themes are new and again Simon provides us with a whole host of extremely useful knowledge, advice and techniques, illustrated by real life experiences and cautionary tales. The focus this time is more on issues that experienced divers face. There is more technical diving content and Simon covers some relatively complex issues in his usual clear and easy-to-read style. In many cases, the issues that concern technical divers reflect those that affect scuba divers at every level. After all, as Simon writes, technical diving is on the same spectrum as conventional sport diving: it is just a different frequency.

Scuba Exceptional also deals in detail with the psychological approach to scuba diving, broaching topics from new angles and borrowing techniques and procedures from other fields of human activity.

While most of Scuba Exceptional focuses on the diver, it also takes a look at the wider picture and highlights a number of areas where scuba diving professionals and the "industry" as a whole are letting divers down. As always, Simon is realistic in his assessments. He may shine a little light on the dark side of the scuba diving world, but he does this in order to illuminate bad practice and encourage change, while offering solutions.

He also provides insights on a wide range of subjects. For instance, do you want to know...

what makes someone a good diver?
how to swim against a current without getting exhausted?
how you can be out of air while you still have plenty to breathe?
what the concept of failure points is?
how to be a defensive diver?
how preconditioning applies to scuba diving?
how long you should really wait between diving and flying?
when to call DAN (and when not to call)?
how corals could possibly be animals when they look like rocks?
how to avoid being left behind in the ocean?
what's happening in the world of rebreather diving? or
what the perimeter of ignorance is?

Scuba Exceptional has the answers to these questions and a lot more

308 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 26, 2018

About the author

Simon Pridmore writes scuba diving books, travel guides and biographies. Originally from the UK, he has lived in the Asia-Pacific region for over 40 years and has spent a considerable portion of that time on the move, both overland and underwater.

As well as his books, Simon has written hundreds of magazine articles on diver training and travel. He also speaks at dive and travel conferences all over the world.

Writing as S J Pridmore, Simon has also written an acclaimed novel, May the People Know I'm Here?

He and his wife, Sofie, currently live among the outlying islands of Hong Kong, but spend a lot of time exploring other places, trying (but failing so far) to find a cure for their itchy feet.

Reviews

[Sunflower · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find it is always a good idea to do some revision before leaving on a diving holiday, even if you can't get in the water just yet. This book I found to be a good way of getting my head back around the diving environment, with its mixture of good revision, and some new things to think about. Although I am not a tech diver, some of their techniques cross over easily, and because of their smaller margin for error, their approach to safety is always great to add to one's personal knowledge.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent read for the educated scuba diver. It is well written and contains tons of great information about safety and being a better diver.