Grand Prize Winner
Congratulations to Abby Tibbetts, the winner of a 3 night stay at Hamanasi, we look forward to hosting you soon!
Abby’s photo was chosen after much deliberation after our judges sorted through hundreds of submissions from 31 unique photographers. All photos were beautifully original making the selecting of winners a genuine challenge. We are incredibly grateful to all entrants for helping us celebrate and share the unique beauty of the Belize Barrier Reef System. We hope you’ll join us again, for our next photo contest, or through future adventures at Hamanasi.
Photographer Abby Tibbets
My name is Abby Tibbetts and both my first and most recent dives have happened with Evan and the Hamanasi Dive team and my husband Jeff. We’ve come to love Hopkins above and below the sea more than any other corner of the world we’ve explored. This trip I upgraded from my GoPro to a TG7 and fell in love with ALL the little details the ocean had to offer! I hope my photos help you to do the same!
From my first encounter with a Puffer Fish and the silly smile always worn on the face of these deeply textured and expressive critters I’ve loved to follow them all over the reefs. I will forever get lost in their eyes, they're like little galaxies & reflect all of the sparkling dynamics that make diving so awe inspiring.
Category Winners
Congratulations to our category winners in our 4 categories! Samantha Klopp in Spectacular Seascape, Brian Dehn in Marine Life Behavior, Matthew Duff in Blackwater, and Abby Tibbetts in Compact Encounters.
Spectacular Seascape
Marine Life Behavior
Blackwater
Compact Encounters
Category Finalists
Thanks to all who participated and helped to make our 2025 Oceans’ Month Photo contest a great success! Below are the 12 photos chosen by Hamanasi staff as finalists. The grand prize winner and category winners will be announced in September.
Mathew Duff
Blackwater
Abby Tibbetts
Blackwater
Abby Tibbetts
Blackwater
Abby Tibbetts
Compact Encounters
Kevin Browning
Compact Encounters
Kevin Novelo
Compact Encounters
Brian Dehn
Marine Life Behavior
Brian Dehn
Marine Life Behavior
Tamara Sniffin
Marine Life Behavior
Mindy Burks
Spectacular Seascape
Samantha Klopp
Spectacular Seascape
William Hall
Spectacular Seascape
Honorable Mentions
So many entries captured the beauty of the Belize Barrier Reef system. We decided to showcase a few honorable mentions.
Kevin Novelo
Abby Tibbetts
Abby Tibbetts
Kevin Novelo
Nadira Khargie Doobay
Kevin Novelo
Abby Tibbetts
David Fow
Brian Dehn
Abby Tibbetts
Brian Dehn
Tamara Sniffin
Categories
Spectacular Seascape
A broad composition photo of a coral reef, sunrise over the water, island with sea, etc. May include a diver or snorkeler.
Marine Life Behavior
Image showing a species doing something other than just swimming, e.g., eating, spawning, mating, etc. May include a diver or snorkeler.
Blackwater
An underwater image taken at night, may include a diver or snorkeler.
Compact Encounters
An up close, detailed shot capturing a fish portrait, a nudibranch, a seahorse, turtle’s shell, etc.
Prizes
The Grand Prize winner will receive a 3-night stay at Hamanasi for up to two people in a run of house room, including breakfast and one scheduled reef adventure (a Barrier Reef dive or snorkel trip). Each category winner will receive a Hamanasi gift pack. The winning photos will be printed and displayed in a gallery at Hamanasi.
