Die Übersetzung weist gelegentlich einige unschöne Anglizismen etc. auf, was den Lesegenuß jedoch in keiner Weise trüben kann. Die Autorin bringt den Zauber des Meeres und der Unterwasserwelt in einer Mischung aus Biographie und Sachbuch gut rüber. Ich kann das Buch nicht nur jedem Taucher empfehlen :-) ( )

Whitty, a documentary filmmaker, weaves a tale of the coral reefs of the South Pacific touching on a wide range of topics. The environment, climate, sea creatures and the coral reefs are the main focus.

But she also touches on yoga and Buddhism, the culture of the inhabitants of the atolls as well as descriptions of wonderful characters like Father Kamilo - Catholic priest, originally from Quebec, who was sent to Funafuti from Samoa, sent into exile from paradise to minister to 50 dutiful Catholics, the minimum number for a parish - only to find that that number was padded by half, by the dead.

She describes the effects of the French and US nuclear testing the South Pacific, the current garbage dumps on Funafuti which "had grown too crowded for its inhabitants to grow their own food" and the destruction of coral reefs (the fragile edge) by the aquarium trade and the live reef food fish trade, among others, which collect fish with poisons and blasting.

There were times, especially at the beginning of the book, where she lost me with the "superlatives" - 64 thousand square miles, 30 thousand islands, 5 climate regions, 40% of the world's reefs, etc. Or with her descriptions of pranayama and diving. (Perhaps this would appeal more to divers than to me).

But then there were the passages like this: "Above them, huge swells from the Antarctic roll toward the islands. Below, the stony corals of the outer reef slope hunker down to withstand the surge. Ahead lies the barrier reef, the natural buttress between sea and lagoon. . . It is this seemingly insurmountable obstacle the baby fish must breach to enter the sanctuary of Mo'orea's inner lagoon. The young fish are anticipating the moonless night to come. . .After nightfall, despite having never done anything of the kind before, they will gather under the humped back of a wave, ride up its powerful rise and down its thunderous landfall and surge across the algal ridge."

A wonderful read for a cold, winter's night. ( )