You know him as Aquaman — king of the seas, riding sharks, commanding waves, looking like a superhero version of Poseidon. But offscreen? Jason Momoa’s real-life brush with the ocean almost ended in tragedy — not fantasy.
In a gripping episode of the “SmartLess” podcast, Momoa opened up about a terrifying 2007 surf trip off the coast of Maui. The destination? “Jaws.” Not the movie — the infamous Peʻahi surf break known for swallowing even the most experienced surfers with its massive, bone-breaking waves.
Momoa and a group of friends were attempting a 13-mile paddle down the coast. Somewhere around mile seven, things went south. “Fast.” His surf leash snapped. The wind kicked up. And before long, he found himself nearly a mile offshore — stranded, alone, and in one of the most dangerous surf zones on Earth.
“I was trained pretty well, so I was fine… for a while,” he said. But these weren’t kiddie-pool waves. We’re talking “10-foot Hawaiian monsters”, crashing down like thunder, with no mercy. The kind of waves that make legends — or take lives.
Eventually, Momoa realized he’d been pushed far out, possibly beyond the reef — and no one could see him. “I was waving my paddle and they couldn’t see me,” he recalled. “The waves were so big.” Then came the mental avalanche. His daughter Lola, just 3 months old at the time, flashed in his mind. That’s when he broke down.
“I just lost it… I couldn’t move anymore. My body stopped. I bubbled down.” That could’ve been the end — if not for the outer reef. His toe scraped against it just as he was sinking. That jolt kept him going. And then — like something out of a movie — a friend spotted him.
But the ordeal wasn’t over.
Together, they kept paddling… into more chaos. Brutal waves. Currents that tore them off their boards. And Momoa? He was bleeding, exhausted, and out of gas. “My feet are covered in blood,” he said. “I’m just literally \[with] my ancestors paddling the rest of this way.”
Against every odd, he made it to shore. Alive. Shaken. And forever changed.
It’s easy to see Hollywood stars as untouchable, invincible even. But this story? It strips all that away. This wasn’t a scene with stunt doubles and underwater rigs. It was raw survival — and a powerful reminder that even Aquaman has to fight for his life when the ocean turns.
