John P. HooverReef Fish Hawaii: Waterproof Pocket Guide

Small & packed with helpful information. Love this little waterproof booklet. Mine came with a bonus small Franco reef guide inside. Thank you to the seller for the extra surprise. You made my day!

I liked this pocket guide, but many fish that we saw off the coast of Oahu were not included - even the official fish of Hawaii.

I was a bit disappointed with this pocket guide to the marine fish of Hawaii and am surprised that more people have not pointed out its main problem, namely too many photos that do not clearly depict the fish.PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:This is a small (6" x 4.75"), relatively pocketable, waterproof guide to the marine fish of Hawaii that one is likely to encounter while snorkeling or scuba diving. It contains 154 color 1.25" x 2.0" photos of fish on about 26 plasticized pages, along with a 4-8 word description of the fish as well as the fishes' size.PROS:- Water proof and sufficiently compact that one could easily shove it in the pocket of one's swim trunks. One could also use a hole punch about 1/4" to 1/3" in from the top left corner of the book, which won't interfere with any fish photos and attach a lanyard to it (an old camera lanyard or strap, preferably one with a cinch on it that can be tightened or even a girl's thin hairband from a dollar store would work).- The majority of photos are clear, they colorfully depict the various species of fish and the inclusion of typical lengths of the different species, along with a comment or two on appearance, helps to identify the fish.- With photos of 154 different fish, this guide seems pretty comprehensive and likely to depict most of the fish one typically would encounter out on Hawaii's reefs.CONS:- The only real con is that about 20 photos in the booklet aren't very good at all and show some vaguely and non-distinct silvery fish against a blueish or black background that do not show the details and colors of the fish well (e.g. barracudas, Hawaiian Flagtail, milkfish, plus several goatfish, jacks, mullets and snappers). I saw several schools of 6-10" silvery fish off Lahaina, but have no idea what they were because the photos of possible suspects in this book are not sufficiently clear to make an ID. Additionally, maybe 10 other fish photos have too faded of colors to be as helpful as they should be (e.g. several chromis, the parrotfish - none of which were close to as colorful as the brilliantly blue, turquoise, yellow and pink parrotfish we saw at Lanai - and several of the darker tangs). Now granted fish tend not to pose patiently for photographers, but given that the author of this book is supposedly an expert on Hawaiian fish and the fish in the book are supposedly commonly found in the reefs of Hawaii, I would have expected him to have obtained better photos of those 30 or so fish, so that all of the photos in the book were at the same high level. It almost seemed as if 80% of the photos in this book were taken while the author was scuba diving, when he had plenty of time to approach and compose the photos to obtain maximum clarity, and the other 20% were taken while snorkeling, when the author had only a few seconds worth of air in his lungs to take the shot and couldn't be picky.CONCLUSION:Overall, I recommend buying this book if you're planning on doing some snorkeling or diving in Hawaii, as it can easily be stuffed in one's gear bag, it can even be taken underwater while snorkeling or diving, and most of the time it has good photos and good information for IDing fish. Ultimately, I decided not to take this into the water with me, as I figured I'd be too busy taking photos of fish with my waterproof camera to have the booklet strapped to my other wrist or be able to pull it out of a pocket; in retrospect, I have no regrets not bringing the book with me while snorkeling. Given the fact that I ultimately didn't need it to be waterproof, I think I might have been happier with one of the author's more comprehensive books instead of the booklet. I took a star and a half off this book's rating because it has too many mediocre photos to deserve a 5/5 rating, just as a student getting only 16 out of 20 right on a basic arithmetic quiz doesn't deserve an A grade. I hope that John Hoover, as more than a few authors do, checks out the reviews of his works here on Amazon, sees this one, takes this advice as constructive, and works on replacing the one-out-of-five photos that aren't up to the quality levels of the average photo in the book, for the next edition.

Christmas gift.

Is waterproof which is helpful. The photos are more helpful than other sources with drawings only. The quality of the photos are not perfect as some are too dark, but many (not all fish) were listed. For the price and size, was perfect for our Maui trip

When I went to Hawaii for my usual two weeks of snorkeling, I was bummed to realize I had forgotten my thick volume of Hawaiian reef fish. My son-in-law discovered this little waterproof booklet in the condo, "Reef Fish Hawaii," so we at least had something to refer to. By the end of our stay, I decided this little pamphlet is about as good as my big book and a whole lot lighter to transport -- literally every fish I saw was in here (and a few I didn't see!). My grandson, without discussing it with me, took the booklet one afternoon and soaked it in the sink, to "test out" if it was waterproof. I was a little disappointed he did that, but guess what? It is waterproof. I dried it off and was back in business.As an experienced snorkeler in Hawaii, I highly recommend this book.

I liked the number of fish in this little book, but I wish the pictures were a little bigger. It says its waterproof but it doesn't feel like it...guess I'll find out once it gets wet.

I bought this to have an easy-to-carry guide for taking to the beach and am very happy with it. It has most of the fish that I see, plus many more. Some of the pictures aren't the best, but overall are clear enough for identifying fish. If you want something comprehensive in terms of fishes included, don't need a lot of detail on each, waterproof and small; this is perfect.

Mi aspettato che fosse plastificato invece è solo di carta lucida, ad ogni modo è economico e sintetico, esattamente quello di cui avevo bisogno da portare con me in viaggio. per un prodotto più di dettaglio c'è bisogno di un atlante.

Exactly what you need to easily identify fish when snorkeling!

Small and compact with great pictures.

Should be very useful.