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A sea cave on the northwest tip of Tonga’s Kapa Island is my favorite place on Earth. Nothing compares to freediving in the vibrant blue waters of Swallows Cave as beams of light and schools of fish dance around me.

The cave, a popular dive spot accessible only by boat, is about five meters deep and has a long vertical opening. Thousands of schooling fish gather in the deep, sheltered area, hiding from trevally, tuna, and other predators.

I snapped this shot in 2018 when I was visiting the area with my friend Sarah Kohan, a talented freediver. We planned our trip to the cave for late afternoon so the sun would be low, its golden light piercing through the cave’s entrance and illuminating the huge school of small fish lurking in the dark cavern. The result was a spotlight effect that gave the photo an otherworldly quality.

To give the image a sense of scale and movement, I asked Sarah to swim through the school; as she did, the fish created a perfect tornado around her.