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Underwater Photo Contest Entries By David Valencia

90 Entries Found: Page 3  of  4
A rare sighting of a thresher shark milling around underneath a baitball. This was taken while freediving.
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a self-portrait in the pool.
Playing in the pool....
This Giant Pacific Manta stops at a cleaning station to get cleaned by the bright orange Clarion Angelfish. You can see the parasites on the skin of the manta as well as the remora.
A curious sharpnose puffer takes an interest in the sargassum nudibranch. I was impressed that he could see the little guy.
Whale shark swimming circles around our boat one magical day.
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Baitball action with silky sharks and yellowfin tuna.
Whale shark swimming circles around roca partida, mex.
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This friendly black manta played behind the boat for hours. It allowed everyone to jump in and have a play. He stayed on the surface the entire time.
This school of silky sharks stuck around roca partida for at least three weeks. They came from the blue again and again. The school seemed to be largest in the mornings.
These are false killer whales that frequent isla san benedicto. They can be very friendly and curious of divers. This day we ran into a huge aggregation of more than 200 individuals. Most were too busy to pay us any attention, but these two did.
This striped marlin and dolphin tag-teamed the bait until it was no more. They didn't attack it like you would expect. They moved slow and deliberate, as if the bait knew they didn't have a chance.
This diver and I watched numerous sailfish and even striped marlin feed on this tiny baitball. In our experience, there is more action on the smaller baitballs.
We were "blue water hunting", looking for things in blue water. It only took these silky sharks a few minutes to show up. More and more accumulated and in the end we had close to 200 hundred silkies. It was impossible to fit them all in the frame.
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These were sailfish finishing a baitball and moving to another. We kept having to jump into the boat, find them, and jump in again. They would attack the bait for awhile, but would move on. One of my friends jumped in with scuba for a different look.
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Friendly whale shark swims circles around the boat during surface interval. All had a great time swimming with the little guy.
Silver Medal Silver Medal 2012
3rd place Monthly HotShots
Final RoundThrough to 2012 awards final round judging

editor's comments

Editor's Comment
The interaction between animal & human combined with a nice composition made this one a winning shot.....and both "models" are looking just great :-) Well done, David !
Manta at a cleaning station surrounded by clarion angelfish. I love the contrast of the dark manta and the bright orange angelfish.
This bottlenose dolphin was creating quite a havoc on the reef this morning. It was chasing jacks and mantas alike.I got this pic of the dolphin hitching a ride on the mantas tail. The dolphin must have thought it very funny.
This is a gray whale in Lopez Mateos. If you haven't seen the gray whales in Baja Mexico, you have to go. it's an experience not to be missed.
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Gray whale in Lopez Mateos.
We jumped in to snorkel with these mantas while they fed on the surface. They flipped over and over and allowed us to approach very close.
Eagle Ray swimming with hammerheads. The current was moving, but the eagle stood still in the current while the hammerheads filled the water column.
These two sailfin blennies were having a disagreement. They took turns pinning eachother on the ground. Shot with a Nikon 300S with a 105mm.
Green sea turtle shot up close with fish eye 10-17mm tokina.
This is a wreck off highbourne cay, bahamas we call the austin smith. There are always a few sharks arouns which mkes for nice photo ops.
Jumped in the water at the dock. You'd be surprised what you find. Like this upside-down jelly(Cassiopea sp.) on a sunny day. Too bad the water was so green. Shot up close with a 10-17mm Tokina lens and Nikon 300S with Ikelite housing.
I caught this sea horse falling from sargassum floating on the surface. He was moving from there to a soft coral on the bottom in about 15ft of water.
90 Entries Found: Page 3  of  4