Next Meeting
Wednesday, September 16th, 2026
Pedro Valencia
The Ocean After Dark: Exploring the Blackwater World
Brazen Tavern (upstairs)
356 West 44th Street
New York, NY
Happy Hour at 6 PM
Meeting at 7 PM
Pedro will also be presenting at NYUPS the night before (Tuesday, September 15th), where he will discuss his photographic techniques in more detail.
Pedro Valencia is an underwater explorer, scuba diving instructor, underwater photographer, videographer, and educator based in Cozumel, Mexico. He has been diving since the age of 16 and has spent years exploring the underwater world, driven by a curiosity to discover, understand, and share the remarkable life found beneath the surface. With a background in digital design and animation, Pedro uses photography and video to bring the underwater world to others and tell the stories of the places and creatures he encounters, from tiny macro life to the extraordinary organisms that emerge during Blackwater dives.
Today, Pedro combines exploration, teaching, and guiding. He leads specialized dives and teaches underwater photography, helping divers develop their skills while becoming more observant and thoughtful underwater explorers. For Pedro, photography is not simply about creating beautiful images—it is a way to connect people with the underwater world and share the incredible experiences and discoveries that happen beneath the surface.
Every night in Cozumel, once the reef quiets down, something wild happens in the open water. Larval fish, jellies, pelagic octopus, and squid still figuring out their own shape all rise up from the deep with nothing to hide behind. That's blackwater diving. Years of photographing it have taught Pedro that plankton, like us, is connected to everything else. He’ll talk about who these animals actually are, how we find them out in open black water, and what's putting them at risk. And why saving the smallest things in the sea might matter more than anything else we do down there.
Today, Pedro combines exploration, teaching, and guiding. He leads specialized dives and teaches underwater photography, helping divers develop their skills while becoming more observant and thoughtful underwater explorers. For Pedro, photography is not simply about creating beautiful images—it is a way to connect people with the underwater world and share the incredible experiences and discoveries that happen beneath the surface.
Every night in Cozumel, once the reef quiets down, something wild happens in the open water. Larval fish, jellies, pelagic octopus, and squid still figuring out their own shape all rise up from the deep with nothing to hide behind. That's blackwater diving. Years of photographing it have taught Pedro that plankton, like us, is connected to everything else. He’ll talk about who these animals actually are, how we find them out in open black water, and what's putting them at risk. And why saving the smallest things in the sea might matter more than anything else we do down there.