Felipe Barrio and Última Frontera: 20 years of travels under the sea
NEW SPRING-SUMMER 25 COLLECTION >> FREE SHIPPING ORDERS OVER 65 € 🚀
info@fordivers.store
Fordivers
Cart 0
  • Man
    • T-Shirts
    • Sweatshirts
    • Hoodies
  • Woman
    • T-Shirts
    • Sweatshirts
    • Hoodies
  • New Drops
  • TOP SALES
  • Collections
    • Nudibranch
    • T-shirts
    • Ocean Wall Art
    • Sweatshirts
    • Woman
    • Diving
    • Whales
    • Mugs
    • Sharks
    • Maldives
    • Manta Rays
    • Freediving
  • Accessories
    • Wall art
    • Mugs
  • About
My Account
Log in Register
Español
English
Search products
Fordivers
Account Cart 0
  • Man
    • T-Shirts
    • Sweatshirts
    • Hoodies
  • Woman
    • T-Shirts
    • Sweatshirts
    • Hoodies
  • New Drops
  • TOP SALES
  • Collections
    • Nudibranch
    • T-shirts
    • Ocean Wall Art
    • Sweatshirts
    • Woman
    • Diving
    • Whales
    • Mugs
    • Sharks
    • Maldives
    • Manta Rays
    • Freediving
  • Accessories
    • Wall art
    • Mugs
  • About

Search our store

Fordivers
Account Cart 0
Popular Searches:
camiseta tiburón ballena hoodie camisetas mujer
Felipe Barrio y Última Frontera: 30 años de viajes submarinos
Fordivers blog

Felipe Barrio and Última Frontera: 20 years of travels under the sea

by Jorge Mezcua on Mar 14, 2023

Felipe Barrio is one of those divers who has managed to turn his passion into a way of life, developing it to become one of the best in his field. On other occasions we have talked about the ever present Jordi Mateo and Rafa Herrero as examples of two passions related to diving that have become a way of life. Felipe is another of these figures, a naturalist that every diver should know.

felipe barrio pictures
With this image of whale sharks in Djibouti Felipe won the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year award for underwater photography.

 

There are people who discover their calling late in life and race against time to develop and make the most of it. In the case of Felipe, who started free diving at the age of 9, is a caving enthusiast and has been practicing high-risk sports such as skydiving for years, he has managed to develop his talent in these fields and has always combined it with photography, becoming one of the best underwater photographers in our country, whose work is recognized worldwide.

 

T-shirts designed by divers for divers

Nudibranch Premium T-Shirt Love 4 Nudis

Nudibranch Premium T-Shirt Love 4 Nudis

28.75€

Maldives Dreams Organic Cotton Unisex T-Shirt

Maldives Dreams Organic Cotton Unisex T-Shirt

34.50€

VIEW MORE T-SHIRTS FOR DIVERS

Joining passions

In the early 90's, Felipe reached the point where many of us wonder if the path we are on is the right one, and he realized that his future had to be among corals, gorgonians and underwater carcasses. That was the moment he decided to create a travel agency specialized in diving, perhaps as an excuse to fully develop his activity as a photographer, abandoning stability and money for happiness.

felipe barrio images

Image taken during the Wallace Expedition on the reefs around the Timor Islands

At a time when there were no specialized diving travel agencies in Spain, Felipe created the first one, Window Buceo, which later became Última Frontera with the addition of his partner and underwater photographer, Charo Gertrudix. It was 1992 when Felipe left his job as a manager in a multinational computer company to dedicate himself to scuba diving. Few shark pictures can be taken from an office, he thought, and the best way to develop his talent as a photographer and discover new dive destinations was to dedicate himself body and soul to it. Today, his office is littered with incredible underwater photographs of spectacular whale sharks and huge schools of carangids, but he spends more time taking them than sitting in front of a computer, more than fulfilling his goal.

"When I started diving," recalls Felipe, "there were only 1,000 divers in Madrid, so we decided to "manufacture" divers in our own diving school. In just one year they managed to train 1,500 divers. The beginnings were complicated and the clientele was not very numerous, "at the beginning the destinations were simple, they were the typical trips offered today by all the diving agencies: Cuba, Mexico, Maldives... and little by little we expanded the range of trips". Twenty years later, the number of divers in our country has multiplied and although the vast majority of their clients are still Spanish, they receive requests from groups from the USA, Germany, Switzerland, France or Latin America.

Maintaining a diving business for more than 20 years is already a major undertaking; getting 3,000 divers a year to want you to take them to the Caymans, Philippines, Galapagos, Bonaire, Maldives, Turks & Caicos, South Africa, Red Sea, Mexico, Mozambique, Komodo, Azores, Baja California, Alaska, Indonesia or Australia is a real triumph. "Before we contract a destination, before we put it in a package, we visit the place, we check that the center is suitable, that it really meets our standards". They only work with partners that meet the minimum quality standards set by Ultima Frontera, which have been refined over the last two decades. "The best centers are the ones that are more established, that have been around longer, with trained staff, with experience, with high demand and high quality".

Hoodies Designed for the Deck of Your Liveaboard

Organic Pura Vida Hoodie

Organic Pura Vida Hoodie

€55

Organic Be Kind to the Sea Hoodie

Organic Be Kind to the Sea Hoodie

€65

SEE MORE SWEATSHIRTS FOR DIVERS

Today Última Frontera offers 165 dive destinations all over the world, which they know and have explored themselves. This enormous work of diving trips in search of new routes and options for their clients has been captured in images to the point of composing another area of the agency: "Última Frontera Photo", a photographic archive of more than 175.000 underwater images that they sell to the most important magazines and media specialized in diving and nature, such as Asian Diver of Singapore, BBC Wildlife of Singapore, BBC Wildlife of Singapore, BBC Wildlife of Singapore and BBC Wildlife of Singapore; aQa, Buceadores and Inmersión in Spain or Tauchen in Germany, among others. His work has won several international awards, including the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year in the underwater category. He has also exhibited in prestigious museums and galleries such as the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, the Natural History Museum in London and the Australian Museum in Sydney.

 

 

Liveaboard Diving Offers up to 67% Off

Horizon III Maldives Liveaboard

Horizon III

From €1,360

MC Treasure of Galapagos Liveaboard

MC Treasure of Galapagos

From €3,633

SEE THE BEST LIVEABOARD DIVING DEALS WORLDWIDE

Exclusive diving

One of the most successful of the more than 240 programs offered by Ultima Frontera around the world is the "Explorer Club". This program is managed by the staff of Ultima Frontera Viajes and has a special feature: it is a diving trip with a specific theme, with a unique itinerary, in which the Ultima Frontera team participates and accompanies its clients. "In this program we propose trips that require special permits from the local authorities, as in the case of the Galapagos Islands," says Felipe, "to others that include courses and seminars on photography in the destination that we teach, or other themes such as diving with white sharks, wreck diving or the Wallace Expedition".

Beyond the Last Frontier: The Wallace Expedition

Felipe, together with Charo and 9 other experienced divers, embarked on one of the best liveaboards in the world, the Damai, to open new diving routes around the Timor Islands, thanks to the Wallace Expedition, some points whose bottoms were totally unknown until now. In the 21st century, when it seems impossible to discover new areas on our planet and we have to leave it to broaden our horizons, there are still discoverers, pioneers who make new species known, create new underwater maps and show that this world, especially the seabed, is bigger and richer than we can imagine.

Wallace Expedition, discovering new dive routes in Timor

For 22 days, the Ultima Frontera team, in partnership with online dive magazine aQa and Mares, traveled more than 2,000 kilometers of unknown reefs, photographed species they had never seen before (and they have a few dives under their belts), christened dive sites that had never been bubbled, and even discovered unknown species.

You can see the extraordinary work of both Felipe and Charo on their Facebook profiles.

Tags: entrevistas, interviews
Previous
Frogfish, one of the fastest predators in the ocean
Next
Ghost pipefish, a master of camouflage

Related Articles

Guía de buceo en Batangas, Filipinas

Diving Guide in Batangas, Philippines

Read more
5 pósters de tiburones perfectos como regalo para cualquier amante del océano

5 shark posters perfect as a gift for any ocean lover

Read more
5 excelentes barcos de buceo vida a bordo del Mar Rojo por menos de 100 € al día

5 excellent Red Sea liveaboards for less than 100 € per day

Read more
Guía de buceo en Puerto Galera, Filipinas

Puerto Galera Diving Guide, Philippines

Read more

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

Latest posts

Guía de buceo en Batangas, Filipinas
destinos de buceo
Diving Guide in Batangas, Philippines
5 pósters de tiburones perfectos como regalo para cualquier amante del océano
buceo con tiburones
5 shark posters perfect as a gift for any ocean lover
5 excelentes barcos de buceo vida a bordo del Mar Rojo por menos de 100 € al día
buceo vida a bordo
5 excellent Red Sea liveaboards for less than 100 € per day
Guía de buceo en Puerto Galera, Filipinas
filipinas
Puerto Galera Diving Guide, Philippines

Do you know our new collection

Product mockup
Diving With Whale Sharks T-Shirt
Sold Out
Select options

Diving With Whale Sharks T-Shirt

Regular price 17,25 € EUR
Sale price 17,25 € EUR Regular price
Unit price
/
Navy
Sapphire
Sport Grey
Ash
+1 See 1 more option(s)
The perfect T-shirt for whale sharks lovers and the peace they represent. How is it...
Select options
Product mockup
Product mockup
Sold Out
Select options

Red Sea Diving T-Shirt

Regular price 17,00 € EUR
Sale price 17,00 € EUR Regular price
Unit price
/
Sky
White
The most important diving areas in the Red Sea summarized in a T-shirt. Sharm, Ras...
Select options
Product mockup
Product mockup
Sold Out
Select options

No Fear in the Sea White Shark T-Shirt

Regular price 22,95 € EUR
Sale price 22,95 € EUR Regular price
Unit price
/
Black
Navy
What do you think you will feel when you dive with great white sharks? Don't let...
Select options
Product mockup
Love 4 Nudis 100% Cotton Nudibranch Tee
Sold Out
Select options

Love 4 Nudis 100% Cotton Nudibranch Tee

Regular price 17,15 € EUR
Sale price 17,15 € EUR Regular price
Unit price
/
What are your favorite nudis? Out of the thousands of nudibranch species, these 12 are...
Select options
Product mockup
Product mockup
Sold Out
Select options

OnlyFins Unisex 100% Cotton T-Shirt

Regular price 16,75 € EUR
Sale price 16,75 € EUR Regular price
Unit price
/
Black
White
For a healthy ocean, full of sharks and their fins. Unisex 100% cotton t-shirt made...
Select options
camiseta boquerones
camiseta sardinas
Sold Out
Select options

One Kilo of Boquerones, Please - Organic T-Shirt

Regular price 24,75 € EUR
Sale price 24,75 € EUR Regular price 24,75 € EUR
Unit price
/
Fraiche Peche
Cotton Pink
Lavender
White
If you've traveled to Greece, this reference might sound familiar. Adapted to our beloved Málaga....
Select options
camiseta barracuda sipadan
camiseta barracuda sipadan
Sold Out
Select options

Barracuda T-Shirt Sipadan Organic Cotton

Regular price 24,75 € EUR
Sale price 24,75 € EUR Regular price 24,75 € EUR
Unit price
/
The Barracuda Point T-shirt is a tribute to one of the best diving destinations in...
Select options
no blue no fun camiseta para buceadoras
no blue no fun for divers
Sold Out
Select options

No Blue No Fun Woman T-Shirt For Divers

Regular price 24,75 € EUR
Sale price 24,75 € EUR Regular price 24,75 € EUR
Unit price
/
Navy
Black
Dark Grey Heather
Poppy
+6 See 6 more option(s)
No blue, no fun. As soon as we get out of the water, all we...
Select options
Go to Fordivers store

About us

  • About
  • Shipping
  • Returns and Exchanges
  • Blog
  • Terms
  • Do not sell my personal information
  • Terms
  • Stockists

Colecciones

  • T-Shirts
  • Organic Cotton
  • Woman
  • Sweatshirts
  • Nudis
  • Underwater Photo
  • Ocean wall art
  • Sharks
  • Whales
  • Diving
  • Manta Rays

Contacta con nosotros

0034 630172163 info@fordivers.store

Dive trips

  • Maldives
  • Red Sea
  • Indonesia
  • Galapagos
  • Socorro Island
  • Raja Ampat
  • Philippines
© Fordivers 2023
Payment options:
  • American Express
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay
  • Maestro
  • Mastercard
  • PayPal
  • Shop Pay
  • Union Pay
  • Visa
Este sitio web utiliza cookies para mejorar tu experiencia en nuestro sitio web. Saber más