Coming face to face with Caribbean reef sharks off the coast of Roatán in the Bay Islands.

The popularity of freediving – or apnea – is growing rapidly, however at the time that these photos were taken, very few people had dived with this particular group of sharks (around 20 in total) without the use of tanks. At 22m deep, with fairly strong currents and frequent rough conditions this can be a challenging spot to Scuba dive, let alone freedive.

It was beautiful to witness the cautious way in which both human and shark were interacting with one another, and then how comfortable they gradually became. There’s a purity to freediving with sharks that is quite different to Scuba diving with them.

Freedivers:
Eusebio Saenz de Santamaria and David Flemmig