4th Place Portrait

Francesco Visitin

"Majestic Flight"

Francesco won a $200 gift certificate from Bluewater Photo or Bluewater Travel

The Story:  It was an August morning and we were  coming back from and ordinary dive in Tinetto Island when the captain of our boat sighted something unusual emerging from the water surface. We slowed down going closer and we stood amazed when we realized that it was a huge leatherback turtle, the rarest in the Mediterranean sea. Immediately I jumped in the water and started tacking picture and observing such magnificent creature but soon we understood that the animal was not in good health. Being the the turtle slow moving and lying on a highly beaten route for boaters we called by radio the port Authority to check the availability of a bigger boat to recovery the turtle (that was really huge). Having received negative feedback we decided to come back in the port to arrange the rescue. Eventually the turtle was recovered few hours later with the aid of a big sail boat but sadly it was too late as it was found dead.

Location: Isola del Tinetto, Portovenere, Italy

Camera: Nikon D7000 and Tokina 10-17mm Lens (F14, 1/250, ISO 100) with Isotta Housing and Dual Ikelite SS200 Strobes.

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