Soft Coral Discovery Ha'apai!

Written on the 13th of December 2010 by Wendy Page

Darren Rice of Liquid Image Productions discovered an exquisite soft coral reef whilst diving and exploring in Ha'apai, Kingdom Of Tonga.  This means a great new dive site with brilliant sea life for you to enjoy and is the only known reef of soft corals in the Kingdom.

Darren has been working alongside the folks from Happy Ha’apai Divers and this discovery has set the diving world abuzz with excitement.

It’s a pinnacle site surrounded by very deep water where the steep walls are covered in amazing soft corals. The first divers were joined by several reef sharks and pyramid butterflies stacked up by the hundreds on the walls. On his safety stop, wahoo and tuna buzzed around Darren confirming this site as a pelagic hang out.

Darren Rice is one of the worlds foremost underwater divers and videographers. Our thanks for these images.   You can find more of Darren's work including some very fine video footage in our fun section and many of Darren's photographs are featured in our Ha'apai gallery. Diving in the Kingdom of Tonga is very special - beautiful clear waters and some incredibly talented people who can lead the way.  If you are an experienced diver these guys know the best places, the best cathedrals and caves etc.  And if you have always entertained ideas of getting your dive certificate they can help you with that also.   Ha'apai diving - highly recommended!