Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for Universal Pictures
At one point, he “gave up.”
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A recent terrifying story from Aquaman actor Jason Momoa describes a surfing accident that almost took his life in 2007 near the coast of Maui. The star, famous for playing a sea hero in movies, found himself in a real-life fight for survival against the ocean’s raw power.
Momoa told the “SmartLess” podcast that during a long-distance paddle at the dangerous Peʻahi surf spot, called “Jaws” by surfers, the actor and his friends set out on a trip that covered about 13 miles along the coast. The group was moving through an area almost a mile out to sea when the accident happened. Around seven miles into the paddle, Momoa’s surfboard leash suddenly broke, cutting him off from his board.
To hear Momoa tell it, “I was trained pretty well, so I was fine. I took quite a few on the head. They’re pretty big, like 10-foot Hawaiian waves. But I’m probably half a mile at that point offshore… I was stuck in this crazy spot, which is probably the outer reef and unknown to me. I was really on the outer reef and they couldn’t see me. I had my paddle and I was waving it and they couldn’t see me, and the waves were so big.”
Jason Momoa revealed that he almost drowned in Hawaii
The winds on Maui were extremely strong, and he was left drifting in the open water. Even though he had a lot of water training and could stay above the waves at first, the situation quickly turned life-threatening. The waves were huge, reaching 10 feet tall, and he was being slammed repeatedly.
The tall actor realized he was stuck on the outer reef, a place so far out that his friends couldn’t see him. He waved his paddle in the air desperately, but the massive waves and the distance made it impossible for anyone on shore to spot him. The constant beating from the waves wore him down, both physically and mentally.
Momoa said, “I just lost it, I was like, ‘Oh s—.’” At that moment, Momoa remembered being exhausted, drifting and alone. He felt that his survival instincts had failed. He siad, “I was out there for a while, and I just couldn’t see anyone coming to get me. I couldn’t move anymore, and my arms and my legs gave up… My body stopped. Like I couldn’t move my arms anymore, and I bubbled down. Then my toe hit the outer reef. I literally gave up, and I’m screaming inside.”
In that moment of complete hopelessness, he thought about his baby daughter, Lola Iolani, who was only three months old at the time. The idea of never seeing her again crushed him, and he felt his will to survive fading.
Eventually, a friend noticed him and came to help on a surfboard. But their struggle wasn’t over yet. They still had seven more exhausting miles to go, fighting against powerful currents and more crushing waves that eventually knocked them off their boards.
Momoa’s feet were bleeding, and he was running on pure determination, but he pushed through, using what he called the strength of his ancestors, to paddle the rest of the way to shore. The experience was a harsh reminder of how dangerous the ocean can be and a life-changing moment for the actor.
Published: Aug 13, 2025 03:17 pm