During a shore dive on Bonaire, I encountered this beautiful purple-tip anemone. On closer inspection, I saw three shrimp jockeying for position; this guy was the winner.

This bird was fascinated by its reflection in the dome port. Taken in the northern Sea of Cortez, Mexico.

This shot was taken below a photographer shooting a school of barracuda in Papua New Guinea.

Mature green turtles spend most of their time in shallow, coastal waters with lush seagrass beds. Adults frequent inshore bays, lagoons and shoals with lush seagrass meadows. Entire generations often migrate between one pair of feeding and nesting areas. On the coast of Tenerife (Canary Islands), we have three green turtles. I devoted much of my time to observing their different behaviors and photographed those moments.

This photo of an octopus in a clam shell was taken in Lembeh Strait, Indonesia, at a depth of 15 meters with a snoot.

As I came across this diver in Iceland's Silfra Rift, I thought to myself, "This is what exploration looks like."

Bright yellow tube sponges were the highlight of this shallow reef off of the coast of Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman.

Late in the afternoon, after most divers have packed up and gone home, the entrance to the Kukulkan Cenote system is bathed in light beams from the sinking sun, further enhancing the natural beauty of the cavern system. Taken in Kukulkan, Puerto Aventuras, Mexico.

A diver is crossing the "desert" on the way to the reef (Tori's, Bonaire).

A free diver takes time to contemplate at the bow of the USS Kittiwake. Nothing was staged; he did what he felt, and I tried to capture his state of mind. Taken in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.

Bullheads can be seen with eggs every year in winter at Lake Grevelingen, the Netherlands.

A tiny hermit crab is looking out of his tiny hole and began to wave hello as I took the picture of him. Taken in Moalboal, Philippines.

This photo of a squid was taken during a safety stop on a night dive in the Maldives.

Morelet's crocodiles live in the cenotes and lagoons of the Mayan jungle; this specimen was among water lilies inside a cenote. Taken at Carwash Cenote, Mexico.

Beautiful oceanic manta over Magic Mountain, where reef and oceanic mantas come together. This manta posed for a split second then continued on its way. Taken in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.

Whale sharks arrive in Roca Partida, Mexico's Socorro Islands, in November, May and June. When they are there, they curiously swim around divers.

To get this shot, I had to be in the water very early to take advantage of the sunrise. I had very little time, but the sea turtles came and I was able to get the photo. Taken in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

I was in Tonga where humpback whales migrate to mate and give birth. We found two adult whales courting; they would swim around each other and pirouette in the ocean. Suddenly, one of them ascended vertically in front of me and stayed in place, clearly looking at me. Taken in Tonga.

Spring is the best season to shoot nudibranchs in the Mediterranean. Here, a white Flabellina (endemic species) during spawning. Taken in Argentario, Italy.

During winter, sailfish gather in the waters north of Cancun, Mexico, to round up sardines. The sailfish display amazing speed as they chase the fleeing sardines and slash their bills sideways in the baitball to snag their prey.

At the end of my dive, I was down 80 feet on White Hill Reef in Destin, Florida, on the bottom under a coral formation, when I noticed the frogfish. What a surprise to me when I saw two of them together.

These shoals of mackerel are a common sight on dives, and I was determined to capture them feeding with their mouths open. Taken in Marsa Shagra House Reef, Egypt.

I saw this pregnant ringed pipefish at around 10 meters underwater. She kept moving and sometimes turned her body over; I saw these beautiful eggs on her back and was so lucky to get this photo. Taken in Kenting, Taiwan.

Akumal Bay in Mexico is a great feeding ground for green sea turtles, and I like to go at sunset to get this range of colors.

I was coming up from a deep dive and had to get this shot. I was a little scared of the waves rolling in, but I went for it. This was taken in about 12 feet of water with a Canon 7D and Tokina 10-17 with 2 YS-D1 Sea & Sea strobes in San Benedicto, Socorro Islands, Mexico.

The 2013 Underwater Photography Contest has come to a close, and the Scuba Diving team had their work cut out for them in choosing from nearly 700 incredible photos from our readers.

After hours upon hours spent poring over the outstanding submissions, here are our 45 finalists. If your photo is featured in this gallery, congratulations are in order. This year had some of the best submissions yet, and it was no easy task to narrow it down this far.

*(Captions courtesy of photographers.)