I love to snorkel and am constantly amazed at the variations in colour and texture found in the ocean. Unfortunately, I’ve never managed to get my act together sufficiently to capture any of these visuals. Until my recent trip to Costa Rica.

Determined to come home with snorkeling photos, I bought myself a small camera that if I lost it, would not represent a great financial loss, but if it took decent photos would be a nice addition to the family.

I opted for a Kodak Sport model, which although not technically an underwater camera, was water resistant to 3 metres…I was going to test the limits of “resistant”. (mine is not the model in the link, which is much nicer, but you get the idea)

A brave fish that gets out of your way, but doesn’t rush, so you typically have time to take its picture.

Shifting currents were a bit of an issue, and I often found myself twisting in the “breeze” while trying to take a photo.

I’d seen the larger fish below in Hawaii, as well, and was amazed both by the vividness of its colours and that it could maneuver at all with those tiny fins.

I am near sighted and the camera viewer was hard to see underwater and through my mask, so the fact that any of the photos were on target and focused is amazing.

Thank goodness for schools of fish…it dramatically increased the likelihood of me getting something in the shot.

As someone who burns easily, I normally avoid the sun…thank goodness it showed up today.

Those little blue guys are everywhere, but they are extremely skittish…I don’t know that I ever managed a clear shot of one.

This was like swimming through a cloud of liquid silver…this was a huge school and shimmered so much that I swear they generated light.

Unfortunately, the strong currents tended to cloud the water, so the photos aren’t as pristine as I would have liked. (I cut myself some slack, however, as this was my first time.)

Feels like a double exposure of one fish.

These photos were taken off Isla Tortuga in the Gulfo de Nicoya near Putarenas.

If you get the chance, GO! It is magnificent.