During July and August we handed our weekly marine life series over to renowned photographer and journalist, Stefan Beskow to re-live and relay some of his most memorable experiences while diving with Emperor.
Stefan has travelled the world and dived just about every corner of it, with Emperor as his choice much for much of his underwater work.
Here we look back at the highlights he picked out over the last few weeks…
Stefan began by recalling an encounter with the oceanic whitetip shark during our ‘Red Sea Sharks’ tour.
The oceanic was one of six species he got up close to and he said: “It is one of the slightly larger sharks you may see and should be treated with respect. It is curious and will gladly come up to inspect you and even ‘bump’ you!
“What it actually does is rub its sensory organs to check if you are of any interest. You have to remember to act calm and controlled if you dive with them, no quick movements, and that makes it an absolutely fantastic experience.”
We then went from a larger shark to a pygmy seahorse – this time on a dive in Raja Ampat from the beautiful Emperor Raja Laut.
They are, of course, called pygmy for a reason…as Stefan explained: “It can be tricky to take good pictures of these little animals. It is all patience, patience and more patience.
“This is because they are very well camouflaged and only about two centimetres, yes 2cm, long!”
Staying with the little fellows – and Emperor Raja Laut – Stefan then picked gobies as a subject of choice.
“Gobies are found in all oceans and are a favourite for me to photo.
“In Southeast Asia they are very common. On a trip with Emperor Raja Laut in January 2024, we saw them everywhere! On whip corals, gorgonians and other corals. They can be a bit shy but a tip is to take a closer look at every whip coral you swim past.”
Manta rays were always going to make the list but the only difficulty for Stefan was choosing which experience was best. It could have been Daedalus Reef in southern Egypt, a ‘Best of Maldives’ night dive where they ‘swam around in the glow of the lights and ate plankton’ or in Indonesia when five manta rays suddenly “flew” by down in Misool.
And his fun fact? Mantas have the biggest brain relative to body size of all fish! So, there you go…
Stefan finished off his picks with another ray – this time an experience with eagle rays at Huvadhoo Atoll in the Maldives.
“Me and my buddy Klas had inspected sharks in one of the amazing channel dives in. As we then drifted into the channel we came to an area of white sand.
“There were about 20 eagle rays swimming around! The current had subsided and we stopped for a long time to observe the beautiful animals.”
The other selection was another with his ‘buddy Klas’ – this time while in at Little Brother in the Red Sea.
After seeing several divers pointing in their direction they turned to spot a baby whaleshark!
Only about four metres long – they can be over 12 meters when fully grown – it swam past at very close quarters giving them another wonderful memory from another wonderful Emperor trip.
As Stefan said: “It was so incredibly beautiful!”.
If you would like to recreate any of Stefan’s favourite highlights, we would be delighted to help arrange it. Contact or team, tell them what you would like to see and they will do all they can to get you on the right trip, in the right destination at the right time.
There are memories to be made out there, we’d love you to make them with us.
Email [email protected], or talk to us through the chat on our website, and let us help you find the perfect itinerary for you.