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This big trumpet fish, about 6 foot long, was filmed in Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The water temperature was around 70º F and we had a good visibility in this day. The waters in this region are filled with many different species of fish, many turtles and coral reefs. The dive conditions were fair at the beginning of the dive, but some strong winds, made the return to the boat a very risky adventure, with some 4 foot waves, the boat was going up and down very fast, and very hard to get aboard, and many divers got seasick during the return trip, but the dives were amazing.

This was captured in Galapagos, and features some puppies with just a few days old. They were very playful with each other, and with us around them. This was show in Bartolomé Island, during a day trip. Their father was around and with his 500 pounds, sounded very scary to us, so, every once in a while, he came around and we got away from his puppies. But he never threatened any of the tourists, sounded more like just a fair warning. The water in this area is very cold, but with their thick fur, they don't seem to bother about that. It was mid-November and the weather was usually hot.

This footage was shot at Arraial do Cabo, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It show a starfish attached to a gorgonian algae, flowing with the current. The dives in this spot usually have some cold water, around 20 degrees Celsius. The currents are not strong, and the life is abundant. I thought this image was particularly curious, because starfish are most of the time on the sand bottom, or in the coral reefs. According to Wikipedia, Starfish or sea stars are star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class Asteroidea. Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to as brittle stars or "basket stars". About 1,500 species of starfish occur on the seabed in all the world's oceans, from the tropics to frigid polar waters. They are found from the intertidal zone down to abyssal depths, 6,000 m (20,000 ft) below the surface. Starfish are marine invertebrates. They typically have a central disc and five arms, though some species have a larger number of arms. The aboral or upper surface may be smooth, granular or spiny, and is covered with overlapping plates. Many species are brightly coloured in various shades of red or orange, while others are blue, grey or brown. Starfish have tube feet operated by a hydraulic system and a mouth at the centre of the oral or lower surface. They are opportunistic feeders and are mostly predators on benthic invertebrates. Several species have specialized feeding behaviours including eversion of their stomachs and suspension feeding. They have complex life cycles and can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Most can regenerate damaged parts or lost arms and they can shed arms as a means of defence. The Asteroidea occupy several significant ecological roles. Starfish, such as the ochre sea star (Pisaster ochraceus) and the reef sea star (Stichaster australis), have become widely known as examples of the keystone species concept in ecology. The tropical crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) is a voracious predator of coral throughout the Indo-Pacific region, and the northern Pacific sea star is considered to be one of the world's 100 worst invasive species. The fossil record for starfish is ancient, dating back to the Ordovician around 450 million years ago, but it is rather sparse, as starfish tend to disintegrate after death. Only the ossicles and spines of the animal are likely to be preserved, making remains hard to locate. With their appealing symmetrical shape, starfish have played a part in literature, legend, design and popular culture. They are sometimes collected as curios, used in design or as logos, and in some cultures, despite possible toxicity, they are eaten.

A Sea Turtle and her fish friend enjoys this meal together at Cozumel. I shot this during a very clear day, and the water had some 30m+ visibility and temperature around 28 degrees C. This footage have no filter or post production, and the water is actually so blue, that is almost purple. I approached this turtle, and it was just eating, and didn´t feel bothered by my presence there, wich was absuolutely amazing. One of the best dives I have ever made. Cozumel offers you lots of different dive styles. You can go to little caves, make a drift dive, a reef dive, you can always find one that suits you. As I was reef diving, I saw one of my first lemon sharks, he was pretty aggressive, as we were in his territory, but nothing to worry about, and once we left his domains, he kept minding his own business. My favorite dive there was the drift dives. You go to around 15m or 45ft and just let the current take you. It feels like you are flying above the reefs, you just open up your arms, and let it go. Good bouyancy control is key here, as you don´t want to be scratching the bottom, neither rising to the surface during the dive. The boat follows the bubbles and is always ready to pick you up at the end of the dive. This shot was taken during such dive, and as the current was pretty strong, I had to struggle a little to be close to the turtle feeding as she was behind a pretty big rock, so there was no current hitting her directly. The little caves, I was in one called devils throat, some restrictions are around 2m or 6ft wide, wich is pretty narrow if you are not cave trained. The formations are amazing and filled with life, many different fish and some barracudas are on the surroundings of each formation.

This video shows penguins hunting at Galapagos. They are in synch eating from this school of tiny fish. They look amazing doing that. It was during a boat trip to Bartolomé Island, and the penguins started following our boat and as always, I had my mask fins and a snorkel, I jumped in the water and they started playing around us. They swam in all directions going away and coming close again, they had absolutely no interest in my presence there and so they did this amazing "dance" just for a meal.

This is a video of the best moments from my trip to the Galapagos Islands. I was able to play with sea lions, swim with schools of hammerheads and eagle rays, and was wondered by the giants and amazing Manta Rays. The sea lions behave almost like dogs, they come to you and try to play with you, specially the younger ones. They make a sound very unique when they are around you, wich you can hear briefly in this video. The penguins were hunting and very funto watch. The hammerheads and their school were amazing, around 30m (90feet) the school started to swim around our group, and two of the biggest members came closer to inspect us. It´s amazing how such a different creature can still look you directly in the eye, as he was swimming in circles around me, I was trying to capture the moment and he was trying to be sure I was no threat to his group. The most amazing animal was the Manta Ray. You stand ground in a very strong current, and wait for them. When they come soaring, flying, so gigantic and yet so gentle, is one of the greatest sights I have ever seen. I couldn´t stop crying as their group of 5 or 6 hovered 4m above our heads. They were curious and very friendly as all Mantas. When this dive was about to end, we saw a black tip shark and some hammerheads, I was following them, and when I looked up, I saw this amazing school of spotted eagle rays. There were hundreds, if not thousands of them. I made around 16 dives in Galapagos, and every single one of them, brought me unique feelings, experiences, challenges and a sense of joy, that no other place got me yet. The music is my own composition and recording.

An adult Sea Lion and her puppy, dances in front of me, in the amazing Galapagos Islands. Sea Lions are like dog puppies, they are playful and very friendly. This mother and her baby were around me all 45 minutes of the dive, and in one of those moments they did this dance right in front of me. My jaw dropped with such beauty and kindness in such big animals. They are the most fun animals under the sea.

A big stingray was resting, until my friend Allan came along and made her fly away. We are PADI divemasters. We took the Divemaster course in 2016 and we´ve been working with it since then. It´s an amazing experience to help someone become a diver. All the students have different motivations, some of them come because of their significant other. Those bring us the most problems, as they are "dragged" and sometimes are not really into diving. The person should be truly motivated to be able to overcome the fears inherent to the diving activity. Anyway, my point here is that when you take the Open Water Course, you face many challenges and you don´t know why yet. At this point, most people only saw under the ocean on tv documentaries. And when they do the checkout dive, the water is always blurry and there are so many exercises that they still can´t really enjoy a good dive. That´s why I posted this video. To motivate everyone who doesn´t know what they will find, this video shows what kind of amazing experience, to see such a beautiful creature start to "fly". With some training, you´ll get perfect bouyancy control, and be able to hover over all kinds of animals, and yet preserv the coral reef. This particular stingray lives there, in an area wel call "little pools" or, piscininhas in brazilian portuguese. It´s on the far right end of Laje de Santos island. We can always meet her in the same area, so it is pretty easy to be spotted and she always wonders me with her size, it´s a pretty big specimen as you can see, compared to my friend. She is very peaceful and presents no harm if you don´t try to touch her, as you shouldn´t to any life in the ocean.

A curious sea turtle, swimming near the camera, at Laje de Santos, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. One day after my birthday, I booked a dive in Laje de Santos. Best decision ever. This is a marine state park, located in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It´s a protected area, where only authorized boats can entry and stay. This day, the water was amazingly clear (20m+) and warm (26C), and life is always abundant in the region. Turtles are everywhere and in some dives you can get to see more than 20 of them. Many schools of fish and a shipwreck lies at 25m depth. This day had no strong currents, so me and my buddy could explore the entire lenght of this "island". From depths from 5m to 40m, is a dive site suitable for begginers and experienced divers, always providing a great experience. In this specific shot, I used the new GoPro 7, wich has great stabilization and color balance. This video has no post production, and the colors seem right. This turtle got very curious of me, and started coming and going for 10 or more minutes. You can see another turtle in the background and there was another one sleeping in a little cave right under the star of the video. 3 turtles in a single shot is very common thing in this dive site. There is a moment in this video that the turtle seem to get a selfie shot, her fin touched the camera as she looked directly into it. As she floated around me, in this crystal clear water, I got to think in all the peace this place brings me, as well as how lucky I am to be able to explore 80% more of the world compared to non divers. Everybody should try at least once, and when the fear is overcome, the joy is endless.