Mark Healey is undeniably one of the most well-rounded watermen you’ll ever find. Yes, he’s one of the best big wave surfers on the planet, but like many people in that community, he spends as much time in the water as possible in any way possible.
Spearfishing has been one of those non-surf activities he’s devoted a lot of time to, and as a result he says it’s helped him build a stronger connection with the ocean and the animals that live there. It’s steered him toward shark conservation and even helping the research community do some of their tagging.
In 2017, Healey and GoPro got together to make a four-part series about his ties to the ocean called “Connect Not Conquer,” and in this episode he comes across one of the biggest Tiger Sharks he’s ever swam with. “That Tiger Shark that we saw was one of, probably the top-three biggest Tigers I’ve ever seen in the water in my life,” he says. “It wasn’t that long ago that anytime anybody saw a shark they were like ‘it almost attacked me’ or ‘it chased me out of the water.’ But really a shark just showed up and they saw it and they ran out of the water.”
It’s a pretty amazing thing to watch and Healey offers some solid perspective on how it can help us all have even more respect for the world around us.
