Wetpixel Expedition to Isla Mujeres

Back in August I went on the Wetpixel expedition to Isla Mujeres. We spent five full days in the water pretty much surrounded by whale sharks. About halfway through the trip the full moon occurred, and the water was visibly thick with fish eggs ... and sharks! There was a lot of particulate matter in the water which made for less than ideal photography conditions, and many hours have gone into cleaning up my photos to make them presentable.

Also, it is surprisingly difficult to take (good) original photos of whale sharks. Sure, I can (and did) take the same photos everyone else has, but the sharks don't do much that is interesting so I struggled to think of new angles and perspectives. I ended up with a few photos in particular that I like a lot.

Anyway, here are some of my photos. I hope you like them. And constructive criticism is always welcomed.

-Gina

shark at the surface by g-na, on Flickr

sharp turn by g-na, on Flickr

beautiful shark by g-na, on Flickr

open wide by g-na, on Flickr

looking back by g-na, on Flickr

The entire set can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/g-na/sets/72157627902180190/

Very nice. I found out that the Westin in Cancun (part of the Starwood system) is not very far from Isla Mujeres. What operation did you dive with and did you like them?

Steve Dingeldein

Excellent photos. Did you have to clean up a lot of your images with all the particulate in the water?

Steve: We were just snorkeling, not diving, and everything was arranged by Eric Cheng & Douglas Seifert, as they were organizing the trip. We stayed at Hotel Playa Media Luna on the island and went out on their boat "Lilly M." They were great - nice, professional, efficient - and I would recommend them, as well as the hotel. Note that most day boats go out to spend about an hour with the sharks and another hour snorkeling on some reef. We stayed about five hours each day with the sharks because Eric & Douglas had made special arrangements for our group to have an intensive encounter.

Bill: Yes! Part of the reason it took me so long to post these is some images took 30-60 minutes to clean up.