19th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Travel
A large wave crashes into the reef on Moorea island.

We were on a boat photographing whales in French Polynesia. During some of the times when the whales were hard to find, I looked around to see what else I could take a picture of. After watching the waves along the beach for a while, I became fixated on getting a photo of the "curl," the point when the wave wraps into a tube just before crashing into the reef and sending a water spray high into the air.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 10.2021
Date Uploaded: 11.2021
Photo Location: near Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Camera: NIKON Z 6
Copyright: © Glenn Ostle