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As a fanatical diver and photographer, Martin Van Gestel came to the rigtht country.
A native of Amsterdam, Martin must have been a nomad in a past life. �I moved around the Netherlands so much I ran out of places to go� he says only half jokingly. Eventually he and his wife, Brenda, decided to look for warmer climes and chose Curacao in the Dutch Antilles as their destination. This is where he turned his hobby of diving into his profession. While there he also bought himself an underwater case for his Nikon D100 and started shooting left, right and center.
Finally after six years on a tiny island it was time to move on. The initial plan was to go to live somewhere in Asia but before leaving the Caribbean they decided to pay a visit to nearby Costa Rica. During a visit to China many years before, the couple had met some travelers who had told them about the wonders of this little country and now it was time to see for them selves if all that they had heard was really true. As it turned out they liked it so much they stayed and they are now the happy owners of a dive shop in Playas del Coco.
�The nature of Costa Rica is wonderful and I am really developing my photography skills�, says Martin. �I�ve taken some trips to the Caribbean side and have had some good opportunities to shoot the wildlife there. Guanacaste is also very special because we have a huge variety of animals. We see howlers and raccoons almost every day, and of course we are located on the Pacific, which has some fantastic diving. Rays, dolphins, and Whales are good models for taking great photographs.�
Despite his inborn restlessness, Martin plans to be here fo quite a while longer doing what he does best.
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Art and Culture 
