The book has 170 ring-bound, water-resistant pages (19 x 25cm) and describes most of the dive-sites of the offshore marine parks, Marsa Alam, Hamata, Fury Shoal, Foul Bay and the St John’s area. There are diagrams of the sites, loads of colour pictures of the fauna, and general information about each place as well as suggested routes for most dives. It’s a glossy production in more ways than one, and has been completed with Teutonic efficiency, complete with overview and settings illustrated graphically and referring to a comprehensive legend at the front of the book. There is also a list of animals you might reasonably expect to come across at each site. As someone who has been to most of these places many times but always gets confused as to which site I am actually going to dive until I hit the water, I found this book immensely helpful. Not just a guidebook to the sites, its front section gives plenty of useful information about reef formation and its influence on scuba-diving. Many of the reefs in the Red Sea have been named very unimaginatively by fishermen, whereas other names are truly creative. To help in this area, this book contains a glossary of Arabic terms used to describe the different reefs. All the dive sites listed come with GPS co-ordinates, too. There is also an illustrated guide to more than 100 hand signals, including signs for various forms of marine life. I wish I could remember half of them! The reader gets a good impression of the daily routine on a liveaboard and safety procedures. It allows for great preparation before and during a dive trip. It also functions as a great aide memoire when reminiscing later about where you’ve been.