I returned to Cuba in June this year following a fantastic trip I had there in 2019. Whilst it would be true to say that the weather dictated that this visit was not as photographically productive as the previous one, it did still have several highlights. One was a really memorable session photographing Caribbean reef sharks near the surface.

The area, Jardines de la Reina, is very rich in sharks and they are always present on the dives. I’d noticed they had a habit of following us back to the boat and at one particular dive spot there were lots of them. I asked if I could return the next day and instead of doing the planned dive I’d just stay around the boat near the surface. The plan worked a treat & I must have had around 20 sharks circling me - perfect shooting conditions!

I was particularly keen to get a few shots with the boat in the background to give the image context and whilst it was difficult to isolate the sharks because there were just so many, I did get a few.

If you’d like to see what it was like at the time the video is below, with thanks to Alex Beck for the production.