Love it or Hate it.

 

When you write a book there is always going to be criticism, negative and positive. I found my book falls into the “Love it or Hate it” category. And this is fine by me. I wrote my book for myself, for my fellow dive instructors and my family. It’s raw and opinionated but it is also honest. Here a a few reviews from both sides of the spectrum.

Colin reviewed Does This Island Go To The Bottom?: The Adventures of a SCUBA Instructor in the Caribbean

 Amazing Book!!! November 18, 2013

This book was a fantastic roller coaster ride. At first it seems dull and boring but you will soon learn that you will go on the adventures Eric did. Amazing book! I feel truly connected with the people that are written about in the book!

Add a comment View this book’s reviews on Amazon.com

cil reviewed Does This Island Go To The Bottom?: The Adventures of a SCUBA Instructor in the Caribbean

1 of 3 people found the following helpful

 Terrible July 12, 2013

Vulgar language, over and over. I could not even make it a 1/4 of the way through very disappointed!
Kindle should rate nasty books like this as… NASTY

MR JAMIE PUTLAND reviewed Does This Island Go To The Bottom?: The Adventures of a SCUBA Instructor in the Caribbean

 Thoroughly entertaining read 6 August 2013

Purchased this book due to being an instructor myself and wanted to read the stories from another mouth, can relate to everything written and loved the way Eric told it all.

Would recommend this book to anyone interested in diving or just for a laugh at the way the diving community live their adventurous lives.

Hope I now get the chance to experience being on the Caribbean paradise teaching too 🙂

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. Rushton “simonru” reviewed Does This Island Go To The Bottom?: The Adventures of a SCUBA Instructor in the Caribbean

 Sour 12 November 2013

A really sad read about someone who seems to have complete disdain for his dive students. Sorry, as a fellow Instructor I thought I would get some insights, amusing stories but didn’t get any of that.

Add a comment View this book’s reviews on Amazon.com

lAdam Helberg reviewed Does This Island Go To The Bottom?: The Adventures of a SCUBA Instructor in the Caribbean

 Enjoyable adventures of a scuba instructor. November 9, 2013

As a scuba diver myself I enjoyed reading this book of real life adventure. It’s about a guy from Southern California bored with his job who becomes a scuba instructor in the Caribbean, finds a compass to his life and returns to the US. The reality and technical accuracy helped make this a good read.

Now for the instructor that gave it a 1 star, he has obviously little experience working in a resort environment. If you read my book carefully you’ll see that I do in fact hold great compassion and respect for my dive students. Criticism is good, both negative and positive. I see so many self published books that have nothing but 5 star reviews. This sends up a red flag for me. I’m more apt to read a 3 star book knowing that someone has given it an honest review.

I will soon be in the process of expanding my book “Does This Island Go To The Bottom?” I have stories that I left out and details I think are important to add. But one thing is for sure, it will still be a roller coster ride!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43NeBiPEzqk

Columbia, the Last Certification Dive

Excerpt taken from “Does This Island Go To The Bottom?”

 

“We were in the midst of thick mangroves somewhere in Columbia with two shady looking characters manning the boat. Cartagena is where the cruise ship docked and that’s all I knew. Pretty Boy and I had our students on their last certification dive. As I looked at their faces, I could tell they were thinking the same as I was. It was an endless, slow tour of navigating the narrow channels, then out to open ocean then back into the mangroves.

There was no way in hell that there is any diving around here. No possible way.

Finally, the cut throat Colombian crewmen killed the two outboard motors and tossed out the anchor. I was relieved to see that there was no body tied to the line.”

Reviews:

Excellent Read

“This is by far my favorite book within the realm of “diving books”. I have read it over and over.” – Amazon

Great Entertaining Read!,

This review is from: Does This Island Go To The Bottom?: The Adventures of a SCUBA Instructor in the Caribbean (Kindle Edition)

“I actually laughed out loud many times when reading this book. It is a great read and thanks to Eric, I had a few sleepless nights because I did not want to go to bed, I wanted to continue reading it. What I admired about the writing of this book is the raw factor you get from it. Eric does not hold back in language or opinions, but you don’t find yourself offended at all. You can tell that this is Eric’s passion and I could visualize every part he wrote about because it is written very well. I honestly could even feel the warmth of the sun when reading this and I live in Northern WI! You will not get bored. If you are like me and have never been to the islands, never been scuba diving…or even if you have, this is a must read!!” – Amazon

 

“I read this book almost in its entirety and it is not for the faint of heart. Disturbing on so many levels. A rather sobering view on the scuba industry and dive ‘professionals’ narrated by the author.” – ScubaBoard.com

 

“Phew! I’ve just finished reading this whirlwind ride through a Californian diving instructor’s real-life experiences in the Caribbean of the 1990s, and still don’t know quite what to make of it . . .” – Divernet.com

Review in “Diver Magazine”

Here is an honest review of my book “Does This Island go to the Bottom?” by the editor of the UK’s 1 selling dive magazine, Diver Magazine and its online format Divernet.com. I am honored and grateful for the editor to take the time to review my book and feature it in the magazine. It’s an awesome feeling to know that something you worked so hard at is selling over seas!

Thank you Diver Magazine.

Divernet | Scuba Diving | Scuba News | Scuba Gear | Underwater Photography

Click link below to go strait to article.

http://www.divernet.com/other_diving_topics/reviews/1938171/does_this_island_go_to_the_bottom_by_eric_h_pasley.html

A review from a diver on ScubaBoard: Does This Island Go To The Bottom?

If you’re a diver than you know about ScubaBoard.com. A social media site for divers that covers all things related to SCUBA. Here is a fellow divers review of my book “Does This Island Go To The Bottom?”

“I just finished the book on a flight back from FL to the frozen north of MN. It was a nice quick read with very good imagery. I could picture all the places and sites that Eric described in the book.

I always enjoy hero to zero escapades of the “been there, done that” divers you run into on dive boats. Eric also points out how instructors and DMs get a kick out of the new divers awe of being underwater for the first time.

Overall a solid book and good money spent.”

And here’s another . . . this one’s great!

“I read this book almost in its entirety and it is not for the faint of heart. Disturbing on so many levels. A rather sobering view on the scuba industry and dive ‘professionals’ narrated by the author.”

Audio Review from ScubaRadio.com, 2 Fins Up!

The host of ScubaRadio.com, Greg “The Divemaster,” sent me an email saying that he had finished my book. He told me that he really liked it a lot. So much so, that he decided to do a follow up review of my book, “Does This Island Go To The Bottom?” on his radio show. This was a bit of a surprise to me for the reason that ScubaRadio.com adheres to strict safety standards set forth by the scuba agency and promotes the positive aspect of the sport of scuba diving. My book on the other hand, at times, is the total opposite. Like a maverick on the open ocean. It was the reality of the business at that time.

Here is Greg’s review. Skip to 29:50.

 

Revised and edited publication out!

Does This Island Go To The Bottom?

The revised and edited copy is out!

Check out the website below for the first 3 chapters. The eBook is now only $2.99. If you have an iPad, Nook or Kindle it will be available through Amazon and all other major book distributers in approx. 2 weeks. I will post an update when this happens.

Get the eBook today! It’s a comical fast read. Here’s what 2 people had to say after reading the 1st draft:

“Loved the book! Great to relive those oh so memorable moments with those lovable cruise ship DSD’s!! This is a book I will read many times! Excellent!”

–Albert Sawatzky

“This book was nonstop laughter. I wasn’t able to put it down until I finished it. Loved it.”

–DeeAnn Spoden

http://www.fastpencil.com/publications/5087-Does-This-Island-Go-To-The-Bottom

Or click on “Buy Book” to the right

Drunk in a police station

From the chapter “The Contract, Drunk in the Cop Shop, Off to Aruba.”

The last stop of the tour was the best part. Our tour guide took us into an open area bar where they gave us all we could drink rum. Rum punch, rum and coke, rum with this, rum with that. Bad news. We all got blurry eyed shit faced. I don’t even know how long we were there pounding down rum like blood thirsty pirates, but then something clicked in my twisted head.

“Our letters!” I jumped up from the bar stool.

“What?” my dad asked in a daze.

“Oh, shit.” Veronica said slamming the rest of her drink.

“We gotta go.” I said. “Who’s driving?”

“Not me.” they both said at the same time.

“OK, give me the keys I’m experienced at drunk island driving.” I started to hold out my hand.

“You have them, dude.” my dad slurred.

I fumbled in my shorts pockets and heard a jingle. “I sure do. Let’s get out of here before we can’t walk.”

After parking crocked between two cop cars, we stumbled out of our vehicle still holding our last rum punch drinks we took for the road. It didn’t dawn on me until my dad said something as we walked to the police station entrance. “Christ, dude, we’re going into the cop station, bombed out of our gourds, to get you guys a letter of good conduct.”

“Try to act natural,” I said tripping over a rock and spilling a little of my rum.

“I’m not even opening my mouth,” Veronica said.

The same giant female cop was still behind her card table. I stumbled up the stairs with my rum sloshing around in my cup. I stood in front of her desk with twisted blood shot eyes. I imagined the rum stench was filling the stairwell.

“Pasley,” I said, setting my drink down on her work station.

She looked at me. At that moment she gave me a chill up my spine. She was a terrifying beast, cold brown eyes looking at me with hateful disgust. I burped. She drew back scrunching up her nose trying to block the alcohol fumes. Oh no, I’ve gone too far this time. Only a fool would stagger into a police station holding a rum punch, drunk, asking for a letter of good conduct.

The officer raised her beefy arm and pointed past me. Her blue uniform was drenched around her armpit with sweat. “Go sit down,” she said in a raw voice, “And take your cup of rum with you.”

As I walked like a crab down the stairs to where Veronica and my dad were sitting, I heard the beast yell up the other flight of stairs, “Are the papers ready for Pasley and the girl yet?”

Ten minutes later we had our letters of good conduct and the next morning we were off to Aruba with a rum hangover.

Note: The photo above is not the police station we stumbled into. I don’t know where in the hell this photo was taken or even if it’s real. But I love it!

Snippet from “St. Croix, USVI”

This short snippet is from the chapter “St. Croix, USVI” from the book “Does This Island go to the Bottom?”

 

All I knew was that I could feel the nitrogen fizzing through my blood stream. I felt like I was outside myself, a zombie with drool down my chin. This is it, Pasley. This time you are gonna get bent for sure. Arms and legs twisted like a pretzel as they put me in the re-compression chamber on St. Thomas for two twelve hour sessions.

So there was only one logical thing to do. And that was to belly up to the bar and get loaded. If I was going to get bent why not speed up the process and be drunk at the same time? But I never did get bent. I just woke up the next morning with blood shot eyes, a pounding headache and a horrible taste like a raccoon shit in my mouth.

 

Pictured below is Cane Bay Beach, St. Croix. The snippet refers to how I felt at the end of the many back to back days after I had done five dives with students and certified divers. Crazy reverse dive profiles, of course.

Let the bullets fly!

My book has consumed me. I haven’t had the mental capacity to write about anything else. The final edit is underway, that is, if there is such a thing as a final edit. I haven’t kept up with this site for this reason. So I felt it was time to post another section of my book to keep it breathing, to keep it alive.

This piece takes place in St. Thomas USVI. It was wild. I really couldn’t believe it was happening until it was over. Time put on the breaks and everything moved in slow motion. Taken from the chapter “Bullets Fly in Paradise.”

 

One fine Caribbean morning I had a resort course in chest deep water at Coki Beach. I was going over the power inflater on the BC with my students and explaining how to deflate to go underwater when bullets rang out, cracking the still air savagely like barking dogs. The tranquil morning was broken. I looked in the direction of the shots and saw two West Indians running up the beach in our direction. The dude in back was holding a vicious looking hand gun and was taking wild pop shots at the other West Indian he was chasing. The natives were definitely restless.

Holy shit! Was I seeing what I was seeing? Island violence in all it’s glory. Brutal and mean, it was not only a sight of terror but also a theater of comical mayhem. The beach was littered with pasty white cruise ship passengers and hard body vacationers one minute, and then the next minute came white flashes of people scattering like ants, trying to take cover. Cups of rum punch and beer bottles flew up in the air, beach chairs clanked and squeaked kicking up fine white sand as they were thrown about. It was total chaos.

My students were facing me and were oblivious to what was happening. They were too focussed on me, which was a good thing. I had to think quick. Cat-like reflexes were key to avoiding stray lead shooting about. The students were still holding onto their inflater/deflater hoses and their regulators were in their mouths. Perfect!

“Ok everyone hold up your hoses and press the top deflate button and let all the air out of your BC,” I said. “Go all the way underwater and lay on your bellies. Do it now!” There must have been a sense of urgency in my voice because there was no hesitation on the students’ part. They dropped like rocks to the sandy bottom. As I went under I heard one more round fire. The threatening sound of the discharge while underwater was wicked and amplified. I looked at all my students and gave them the “OK” sign. They all gave me the sign back.

Thank God. I said to myself.

 

This excerpt just may appear in the next issue of Aquatica Magazine.

Below is Coki Beach where the shooting took place.

Get it while it’s wet . . .

Check out my recently published book. The link is right on the side bar and will take you right to it.  (I figured out how to do it.)

I’m not going wide distribution yet, I want to make sure everything looks good. In a few months I’ll have it out in all the major book stores; Amazon, B n N, iBooks, etc. Click on the side bar link and you can see the first 10 pages! Remember, this is not your average scuba diving book, it comes across harsh and real. Your a fly on the wall in this book.

http://doesthisislandgotothebottom.weebly.com

This is the novel website address!

Stay wet! Eric