In this shot, I love how the sun shines trough the roots of the mangroves towards the dome of my camera, and the soft coral at the foreground looks like a bouquet of orange flowers. Got this shot of soft corals growing on mangrove roots, at the blue mangrove, in a few meters of water are mixed forms of life that are rarely seen side by side: marine coral and tree roots. There are many mangroves around the globe though very few are located in areas with clear water.

Mangroves contribute to coastal protection from erosion and protect the environment from extreme weather changes. Besides this, the mangrove forest is important in maintaining water quality, trapping sediments and filtering pollutants originating from activities in the surrounding areas.

Unfortunately, not many are aware of the importance of the mangrove ecosystem, causing them to be neglected, thus leading to the threat of its extinction. This is evident throughout the globe today in which mangroves are becoming increasingly threatened by various unhealthy human activities, such as reclamation of land for aquaculture, agriculture, industry or housing, coastal resort development, ports, roads, airports and oil exploration; widespread logging; and pollution.

Went for amazing Liveaboard diving in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. One of the dive site is the clear water mangroves. I grab my underwater camera, set up my scuba gears and dive around the mangroves to look for the perfect angle for a perfect shot. It took me more than 1 hour until I got this shot, where there's beautiful soft coral at the foreground, and sun rays shining trough the water at the backgrounds.