Lafa Lafa

The Lafa Lafa Shoals is an offshore group of four submerged Sea Mounts. One of these mounts, imaginatively named Lafa Lafa 4 is particularly impressive with surperb hard coral cover. The mount itself lies just three meters beneath the surface and drops of to over 30 meters on the western slope. The area experiences strong tidal currents as water is compressed and pushed around, up and over the shoals. The current provides plenty of nutrition for the coral and marine life here. Some of the most impressive coral formations here comprise sub-massive and cabbage corals. There are also sea whips, beautiful purple soft corals and yellow sea fans. The top of the reef is predominantly branching acropora and there are an amazing number of clownfish. Whitetip Reef Sharks laze around the mount, often on the deeper slope. Great shoals of Blacktongue Unicornfish wheel around the mount often giving way to schools of Paddle Tail Snapper. Fusiliers swarm in their thousands being herded and harassed by large Dogtooth Tuna and Great Barracuda. There can be an astonshing abundance of life on Lafa Lafa when the currents are moving. It is one of the spots in Ha'apai where Green Sea Turtles and Eagle Ray are more likely to be encountered. Big groupers hover over the rubble around the base of the mount in the shallower (16 -20 meter) areas. Humpback Scorpionfish can be located here but their pink camouflage helps them to blend in perfectly with the corraline alge and makes spotting them incredibly difficult. I once dive here with a pod of thirty Pacific Spinner Dolphins, their graceful acrobatics entertaining me during the safety stop. The vivibility is normally excellent here, sometimes in excess of thirty meters and the currents help to keep it clear. Lafa Lafa is an exciting dive with lots going on, very healthy and abundant coral and great clarity. Currents can be a little tricky here at times and it is suited to more experienced divers.