Rui Caramalho
Diving
I Started in 2001 in the Maldives, not bad at all.
I only started to film in 2008.
With a camera you may loose a lot of the dive if you are not careful.
So now I film with a GoPro without looking at the camera
But, of course I make many mistakes.
Sometimes I think that I'm filming, but I'm not.
A lot of times I film without knowing.
What I really love is "big animals" like:
sharks, sea lions, mantas, turtles, dolphins, etc.
Last years I've been diving mostly with: Guilherme, Lurdana and Emanuel.
Most of the photos here are from Emanuel Gonçalves, may we keep diving together for many Years.
All my films are on YouTube click on the YouTube link below if you want to see my channel
If you want to learn something about sharks,
check this film with english subtitles.
Diving TOP 5
Bahamas (Atlantic Caribbean)
My best dive ever was here
On this trip we visited 2 islands.
- Bimmini - To dive with the "great hammer shark" much bigger than
the regular hammer head.
- Grand Bahama - To dive with the Tiger Sharks in the
famous "Tiger beach"
But the tigers are really the TOP.
Mexico - Guadalupe (Pacific Ocean)
It's number one spot for the great white shark .
Colombia - Malpelo (Pacific Ocean)
An Amazing quantity of big pelagic fish.
Schools of more that 60 hammer sharks
Demanding dives not for novice divers
Galapagos
Every diver should dive here. Even the animals in land are amazing
We dived with a big pod of dolphins
Mexico - Cortez Sea (Pacific Ocean)
I had 3 great dives playing with sea lions "puppies".
Snorkeling with the great Whale Sharks was fun.
The night dive with mobulas is a must.
The large schools of jacks are very nice.
Tiger Shark
Bahamas (Atlantic Caribbean)
Probably my best dive ever was here
The amazing interaction I had with the sharks in the last dives was incredible.
Only possible because the staff made a fair analysis of my
experience with the sharks and allowed me to do it.
I'll be forever gratefull to them.
Thanks Vince and Debora from Epic Diving
Between all the dives we had, tiger sharks and lemon sharks, ,most of the times, we had bull sharks and a lot of times, we had nurse sharks
Movies
Thanks to Fabrice I could see myself interacting with the sharks.
I made 2 narcissist films with me interacting with the tiger sharks.
Photo gallery (Pictures from the trip)
Pictures are from people in my trip. The best ones are from Emanuel Gonçalves
South Africa - Umkomaas
The film and photos are from 2008, at the time I had a bad camera.
South Africa has good dives in general with moray eels, sand shark tigers, nurse sharks.
but the Tiger shark dive is the top.
2008 was my first time with so many sharks, around and my first time with tiger sharks.
The tiger Shark dive is about 50 minutes drifting at 10 meters depth. Usualy you can also see more than 10 black tips.
Movies
This is my first youtube film ever made.
At the time the screen resolution was important
for the performance.
The resolution upload was 480p.
This film has very low quality.
Nevertheless this film at the time had more than 6000 views
Great White Shark
Mexico - Guadalupe (Pacific Ocean)
There's more places in then world with the Great White Shark, but none has this visibility.
I already had before, near Cape Town, a very crazy and
illegal experience of diving with no cage.
But visibility is too important. I did not enjoy and
I don't think is safe to be in the water in those conditions.
But Guadalupe it's amazing.
I met two scientists on board: Mauricio Hoyos and Erich Ritter.
The trip was even better because we dived 2 days in kelp forest in San benitos, with a lot of sea lions
Overall it was:
- San benitos: 7 dives
- Guadalupe (cage): 12 dives
- Guadalupe no cage: 7 dives
- ?? don't remember: 2 Dives
Photo gallery (Pictures from the trip)
Pictures are from people in my trip
Hammer Sharks
Ecuador - Galapagos (Pacific Ocean)
One of the best places in the world. In just one dive I saw Sea lions,
Whale Shark and more than 3 minutes with Dolphins
Even in the land is amazing. We saw:
- Iguanas,
- Galapagos turtle,
- Blue-footed Booby,
- Galapagos Waved Albatross,
- etc
And let's not forget the schools of hammer sharks.
Movies
The film is big (10 min) but it's really good.
Colombia - Malpelo (Pacific Ocean)
The sea conditions are sometimes rough, big currents and waves.
You are in the middle of the Ocean in this inhabited rock,
so scuba accidents here will probably be fatal
The visibility is not the best, but the show is amazing
An amazing quantity of big fish. The schools of pelagic fish appear
to be a moving 30 meter wall.
Around the schools there was big tunas hunting.
We saw turtles, a lot of moray eels, and a big manta
that played with us.
But the schools of more than 60 hammer sharks are incredible.
Movies
Bahamas - Bimini
Great Hammer Heads are bigger than the more usual Scalloped Hammer head,
They are known for attacking other sharks.
It's a small island with nothing to do during the day.
All about diving with the Great Hammer Head.
But the dives are god.
Photo gallery (Pictures from the trip)
Pictures are from people in my trip
Movies
Sea Lion
Mexico - Cortez Sea (Pacific Ocean)
Playing with the sea lions is fun, but playing
with puppies sea lions is amazing.
I made 3 dives almost in the same area next to the sea lion's nursery cave.
The night dive with mobulas is very cool, check the film.
We made an incredible dive with schools of jacks
We also saw a nice group 20 groupers.
2 Snorkeling experiences with the Whale Shark is also ok.
Movies
Photo gallery (Pictures from the trip)
Pictures are from Emanuel Gonçalves
Other Sites
There are some places I consider good to dive but not enough to make a film.
Places like:
- Caribbean Sea (Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic)
- Cape verde
- Mediterranean sea
- Brasil
- Malasia
- Thailand
I've enjoyed diving in this places.
Then there's places, like the one bellow, places where I did enjoy a lot to dive.
I had to make a movie of them, they are awesome, just not on top five.
Raj Ampat (Indonesia)
Maybe the place with biggest biodiversity in the world.
Out of the water, the forest all around is Magnific
The corals are the best in the world. There's a huge amount of life, but for me,
To few big animals.
We saw:
- nice groups of humpback parrot fish,
- grey reef sharks,
- reef white tips,
- barracudas,
- turtles,
- mantas,
- Cuttlefishs,
- the very strange wobbegong shark
All pictures are from Emanuel Gonçalves
Movies
Maldives
Maldives is paradise. A place you can enjoy with the family and still make good dives.
Just make sure your island is suitable for diving.
In Vilamendhoo (2014), in the first 2 hours from arriving, me and the kids we wen't for snorkeling. And we saw: turtles, marble ray, moray eals and coral fishs.
Maldives is one of my favorite spots in the world for vacations.
Movies
Red Sea
I already dived 7 times in the red Sea, in different countries.
It's where my shark passion began. In 2003 had my first close encouter with a 2.3 meter Oceanic White Tip
Still, one of the best coral dives in the world, although I notice
big changes in the last 10 Years.
There's much less big fish and a lot of coral damage.
Photo gallery (Pictures from the trip)
Pictures are from people in my trips
Movies
Africa Indian Cost
This is a special mention to a continent I love.
Dived in Zanzibar, Mozambique, South Africa.
Mozambique / South Africa
I love the people from Mozambique.
Very good dives in Zavora for manta rays.
South Africa Umkomaas is one of the best places to dive with Tiger Sharks.
Second only to Tiger Beach, Bahamas.
We saw at 10 especies of sharks in the Mozambique / South Africa trip of 2010:
Guitar, Leopard, Black tips, Tiger, Nurse, Sand Tiger, Silky, White tip, Whale Shark, Bull Shark
It was a trip I enjoyed a lot.
Photo gallery (Pictures from the trip)
Pictures are from people in my trip
Movies
In 2010 I had very bad camera for today standard.I did made an DVD. Just never uploaded those films to Youtube. One exception the film bellow.
Zanzibar
Zanzibar represents all the other places where the dives are good, but for me it's missing the big animals.
Places like Thailand, Malasia and the Caribbean islands.
For some reason I did a film about Zanzibar and it's a good example of easy "Aquarium Dives".
