Snappers and bull sharks

Another round of red snapper spawning with Paul and Richard. 

Richard approaches the aggregation

As visibility dropped off, I caught my first glimpse of a bull shark!

Underneath the aggregation the water was completely clouded with gametes, so I often couldn't see a thing until a shark suddenly materialized three or four feet away. 

On the second day I used a fisheye lens to better capture the whole aggregation. 

The current was much stronger this day--I'm amazed Paul was able to get anywhere with this huge camera!

Fishnado

Near the end of the dive, I had a magical turtle encounter. I saw a small hawksbill coming off of the reef, and as it approached tried to wait for the last possible moment before pressing the shutter.

I was then caught off guard as the turtle, rather than veering off and going on its way as turtles tend to do, continued its head on trajectory. I think it either saw its reflection in my lens or was simply curious, but it came right up and studied the camera for a few seconds, and then started tapping on the lens with its beak! I had the camera and strobes set for the distant, dark fish, so I spent most of the encounter staring paralyzed at the turtle, not wanting to blind it with a huge flash and just get a completely washed out turtle face. Finally I pulled myself together enough to take a few seconds of video before the turtle, satisfied with its inspection, turned and took its leave.