Surfline January 29, 2020
These days, the virtual world is nearly as
tangible as the good ol’ fashioned terra firma. There it is, constantly in our
pockets, awaiting our scrolls and likes and hashtags. But Oahu’s own Mark
Healey lives in the real world, unplugged à la The Matrix. He’s in
the sea – surfing, diving, and fishing. He’s on land – hunting wild boar. He’s
in the air – or, rather, he’s breathing it in ways to help him in his pastimes
above. He’s a man of the physical world in all its material forms; although
his Instagram
account is still a solid follow. Just sayin’.
And one of Healey’s favorite side hustles – outside of
his main muse, surfing – is diving. He’s become a well-respected free diver and
award-winning spear fisherman, which, in an era when simply packing a bomb at
Pipeline or hucking air reverses on repeat has become blasé, is important. You
need to be more than just a good surfer to be recognized. You
need to be an eco-warrior or a musician or a mixed martial artist or (in
Healey’s case) an all-around “waterman.” And, more importantly, it also helps
to have something else to do when the waves go flat.
But the best part is, Healey’s hobbies help him when big
swells do arrive. And diving in particular. So, for another edition of our
ongoing series on cross-training, we picked Healey’s brain about
what it’s like to go beneath the surface, and how it helps when he comes back
to the lineup.
