This article first appeared in Sport Diver February 2003 Posted to internet on 02/07/03 Did you miss this issue? Buy it now online!!

The Academy Award-winning producers of the IMAX films Dolphins and Everest, MacGillivray Freeman Films, are about to release their most ambitious production to date (both financially and technologically). Coral Reef Adventure follows the real-life expedition of Howard and Michelle Hall, well-known underwater explorers and cinematographers, on a 10-month journey across the Pacific from Australia's Great Barrier Reef to the majestic islands of Tahiti and Fiji and the mysterious Rangiroa Atoll. Explorers to the core, Howard and Michelle saw the film as a double opportunity: to get out a very important message about the perils coral reefs are facing, and to go where they had never gone before.

Tremendous challenges faced divers and equipment, particularly in Fiji, where the Halls accompanied deep-reef scientist and deep-diving pioneer Richard Pyle to a depth of 370 feet in search of new species of reef dwellers. As they pushed themselves, they pushed the film, and the concept of Coral Reef Adventure evolved into something entirely original: a blend of life and art in an epic journey.

In addition to showing some of the most breathtaking underwater footage ever shot, the film documents the dramatic series of events when Howard developed a serious case of decompression sickness. The film was nearly scrapped, but Hall courageously returned to shooting (at tremendous depth) only five weeks after the incident.

More than 100 miles of film were shot and an incredible 2,421 dives were logged in pursuit of a film that will bring to light the urgency of the ecological crisis facing the Earth's coral reefs.

PADI and Sport Diver magazine, as promotional sponsors of the film, will help spread the word throughout the dive industry to support MacGillivray Freeman in their efforts to protect this precious threatened resource and bring a heightened awareness to divers everywhere who play such an important role in protecting the world's coral reefs.

Greg MacGillivray sums it up: "While few people on Earth will ever experience the intense challenges and rewards of ocean exploration, Coral Reef Adventure opens up this world of unprecedented beauty and great scientific importance to everyone. The result is a rare glimpse of what we could lose -- and an exciting reminder that maintaining a sustainable relationship with nature is in all of our hands."

For locations and showtimes, please visit www.coralfilm.com