Book Review:The Joy Of Water

We’re all going nowhere at present. So for most of us we can only enjoy a bit of armchair travel and dream about our next holiday. Recently I was sent a copy of this lovely coffee table book published by Lonely Planet called “The Joy Of Water”. Once I opened it I was enchanted by the beautiful images in the publication. You see I’m a water lover and I’ve always been drawn to the sea, a lake or river. Maybe I was a mermaid in another life!

The Joy Of Water Book

This wonderful book is not only exceptional eye-candy, but raises awareness of our most precious resource – water, from all over the world. The brilliant photography draws you in immediately and makes you want to don a swimsuit or wetsuit and jump straight in!

The preface to the book written by traveller and adventurer, Luke Waterson (a very apt name), describes the water as: “A dip in our planet’s waters rarely requires specialist equipment, save perhaps some gumption. And once immersed, it is an absolute sensory experience: you smell it, you hear it, it touches every inch of you. It is the easiest way to throw yourself into nature’s great unknowns”.

The Joy of Water is broken up into five chapters featuring five continents:

• Africa
• Americas
• Asia
• Europe
• Oceania

There are a total of 68 aquatic paradises featured in the book which will whet (or should I say wet), your appetite. The watery wonderlands are varied and include ocean pools, infinity pools, beautiful beaches, water holes, hot springs, blue lagoons, lovely lakes, waterfall-fed pools, rock pools, underwater caves, sacred rivers, snorkelling hotspots, bathing ponds, thermal baths, volcanic crater lakes, white pebbled coves and tropical island paradises.

Luke sums up the purpose of the book perfectly: “Readers can discover new places in each part of the world to splash in, soak up or simply stare out at the water, as well as remembering places they have already been – and hope to return to.”

International Aquatic Paradises

There are so many places around the world that you can experience the joy of water and although I consider myself to be well-travelled, I have only really discovered the tip of the iceberg.

Some of the places featured in the book that I have experienced first-hand include Pammukale in Turkey, a few of the beautiful island beaches in the Caribbean, a couple of Japanese Onsens, the natural sea grottos of Capri in Italy, St Peter’s Pool in Malta and the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. All of these bodies of water and pools are absolutely exquisite.

After browsing through this book I’m now frothing about seeing some of these other aquatic paradises:

• The natural waterhole of Dos Ojos Cenote in Mexico
• The aquamarine waters of Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA
• Float in the salt water of the Dead Sea in Jordan
• Swim at the white pebbled beaches on Sardinia, Italy
• Samoa’s To-Sua Ocean Trench on Upolu Island
• Jump into Lake Bled in Slovenia
• Big Lagoon in Palawan, The Philippines

Australian Aquatic Paradises

In my own country of Australia the selections are highly commendable, with most of them being in remote regions that are a little off the beaten track, including:

• Bay of Fires in Tasmania
• Bell Gorge in The Kimberly of West Australia
• The Mossman River in The Daintree of Far North Queensland
• Bondi Ocean Pool in Sydney
• Mataranka Thermal Pools in the Northern Territory
• The Ningaloo Reef in West Australia
• Whitehaven Beach in The Whitsundays, Queensland

If I were to select other aquatic paradises in Australia I would also add the following:

• Lake McKenzie on Fraser Island in Queensland
• Lake Argyle in The Kimberley, West Australia
• Emma Gorge Waterfall and rockpool in The Kimberley, West Australia
• Green Pools in William Bay National Park, Denmark, West Australia
• Snorkelling off Quobba Beach in West Australia
• Florence Falls in Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory
• Edith Falls in Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge), Northern Territory
• Turquoise Bay in Cape Range National Park, Exmouth, West Australia

The Joy of Water book is available from all good book stores and is very reasonably priced from between $17 to $30. It would make a great gift for a fellow water-lover or just someone who loves to travel and explore this wonderful water-filled world of ours.