Isidro Felipe Pérez remembers perfectly the first time he put on some diving goggles and looked at the bottom of the sea. “I was surprised because I did not know all that world that was below me.” He was eight years old but that first contact with the underwater world marked him forever.
His father had a house on the beach, in the Rojas area, in the municipality of El Sauzalwhere the family spent every summer and where his curiosity about the aquatic environment was aroused, although it was more than a decade ago when he started taking underwater photography, but without using a bottle but instead freediving.
Freediving photosub hunting is a sports discipline that aims to capture the maximum number of instant photos of live fish (crabs or algae are not worth it) in their typical environment with the highest photographic and artistic quality possible in a given area and within a period of time. established.
He did not start alone but accompanied by a “little group of people” at the Matansub club, from The Massacre of Acentejothe municipality in which he was born.
So far nothing has gone wrong. He started with the federative championships and already accumulates several awards. He has been champion of Tenerife, of the Canary Islands, four times runner-up in Spain, two thirds and recently won first place in the I Tenerife Biodiversity Open, the most important diving event in Spain together with his partner Juan Carballo.
A hobby that was born accompanying his father to the water and from whom he also inherited his passion for fire since they are both firefighters, two antagonistic elements but in his case he dominates perfectly. “It is a profession that you have to like, because not everyone can be a firefighter”, he underlines.
His father is his main support. On Wednesday, he accompanies him to the Spanish Championship that takes place from September 8 to 11 in Viveiro, Galicia. His children are also part of his team. Daniela, 12 years old, is his community manager, she says jokingly, and Pablo, 8, takes her photos. The two have already ventured into the bottom of the sea and this summer they have also learned to compensate.
Photosub apnea hunting is a sport unknown to many people and that is why Isidro’s intention is to spread it.
In addition to underwater skills and a camera, the fundamental thing to be able to practice it is to be curious, investigate the different species and investigate. “Once you have the curiosity to search, the other comes by itself,” he maintains.
He uses a normal reflex camera but adds a casing to put it under water since the really important thing is to have a good artificial light so that the real colors are not lost.
It also requires a previous study and a lot of “book” work because in order to capture different species you have to know how to identify them. That is why it is essential to do a preliminary study of the area and the species it houses and once you are there, you recognize them “although under water everything can change”, he clarifies.
It is also important to respect rest times out of the water. “If you stay inside longer than necessary, the recovery has to be greater, and you can’t do a very long apnea because you lose time outside,” he explains.
This professional firefighter, who works in the Santa Cruz park, assures that new species are always being discovered “and more so with the consequences of climate change.”
Isidro Felipe: the key is to never stop learning
When he started diving there were varieties of fish that were easily found whereas now it is rare to see them and vice versa. An example of the latter is the soldier fula (Abudefduf saxatilis), rare in the Canary Islands, but which has increased considerably in recent years, probably due to maritime traffic and the increase in water temperature.
“It began to be seen at a point in the southern area of Tenerife, and now it has also been recorded in Caleta de Adeje, Granadilla and Garachico,” he specifies.
His passion for the seabed has led him to publish the Guide to Barrigudas, Cabozos and Bloodsuckers of the Canary Islands, a job he carried out together with Juan Carballo, Cristina Camacho and María Belén Caro, and in which they compiled all the photographs they had because they It was sad “that they remained in nothing, when other people could take advantage of them and learn”. In total, they cataloged 35 species of the three families.
Isidro Felipe Pérez is in love with the seabed of the Canary Islands due to its great biodiversity. “Each island has its charm and in general, they are well preserved,” he emphasizes.
In Tenerife, the North area is very different from the South. An environment in which he is passionate about diving is the old pier of the Villa and Port of Garahico and the one known as La Negra beach, on the coast of Matanzas, where much remains to be discovered because access is very complex.
When asked specifically about El Hierro, he clarifies that paradise and the underwater reserve that this island has is “not a myth”. “It’s as wonderful as they say and even a little more,” she says.
