“I wish I could give you one last hug. I wish I
could tell you again how much I love you and thank you for being
the best dad…”
The surfing world is in shock, understandably, after the
premature death of tuberiding maestro Mikala Jones, whose POV
images from inside impossibly perfect caverns, have captivated
surfers and photo editors for years.
His daughter Isabella Lokelani Jones paid tribute to her Dad in
a moving post on Instagram.
“I’m in so much disbelief right now, this doesn’t feel real. I
love you so much dad and i wish i could give you one last hug. I
wish i could tell you again how much i love you and thank you for
being the best dad. I wish you were still here with us, you weren’t
supposed to leave yet. This is too soon. I know you are in a good
place now with nana vi, and your friends. I wish this never
happened and we could just wake up and go surf together tomorrow
morning.
“I’m not sure how to put this in words, but my dad got into a
bad surfing accident and didn’t make it. Im happy he was doing what
he loved the most. Life will never be the same without you. I miss
you so much, i would do anything to get one more moment, even if it
was us arguing and then laughing our asses off. Thank you for
teaching me so many life lessons, and always being there for me. I
wish you were still here with us right now. I will always be think
about you dad ❤️ i love you so much, thank you for everything ❤️
fly high 🕊️ ur a fucking legend.”
A roll call of surfing luminaries including Mark Healey, Kamalei
Alexander, Taylor Steele, Tia Blanco, Griffin Colapinto, Shane
Dorian, Laura Enever and Lyndie Irons paid tribute below the
line.
“A truly special and amazing human,” wrote Healey.
Mikala, who was forty-four, was no stranger to putting himself
in danger as he charged waves across the Indonesian
archipelago.
In a 2012 interview with Nathan
Myers, Mikala recounted his near-death experience at a remote
reef.
“I got sucked over the falls and landed on my board…I may have
gotten knocked out for a moment, because the next thing I remember
is touching the bottom with my feet. I don’t know…all that happened
pretty fast.
“With my feet on the bottom, I got a push straight up. I still
hadn’t opened my eyes yet, so when I reached the surface I looked
around and everything was just going in circles. I barely got my
head up for air and I saw the next ten-footer barreling down on me.
I managed to scream ‘help’ and then Boom, the lip landed right on
me. Underwater everything was going in circles. I grabbed my leash
and started to shimmy myself up. I don’t know how long I was under,
but I got up just before the next wave hit. Again, everything was
going in circles. I yell out again, ‘Help!’ and then the third wave
hits me. This was about a 6-foot double-up, and this was the gnarly
one.
“I’m underwater doing summersaults and I can’t figure out which
way is up. I try to find my leash and I can’t do it… I’m
underwater, looking for my leash, looking for the bottom, but
everything I see is just spinning in circles. And by this time, I
actually felt the fifth wave pass over me. And at that point, I was
like, ‘Are you kidding me. I’m going to drown.’
“And then suddenly I’m out of my body. I’m actually looking down
at myself. The surface of the water is only two feet above me, but
I couldn’t figure it out.I hear my daughter’s voice, ‘Daddy, come
home.
“And then I came to. I don’t know how, but suddenly I’m out of
the water. I went from watching myself drown — literally going
‘glug, glug, glug’ — to suddenly standing on the reef, like angels
pulled me out of the water. Next thing I know, the sixth wave hits
me and I just bear hug my board. Everything is still spinning and I
just go summersaulting along the reef hanging onto my board as
tight as I can.
“I was literally seconds away from drowning. After that I just
layed on the beach coughing up water, with bubbles coming out of my
ear. And the waves were just pumping. I was bummed to miss the rest
of the swell, but I guess that’s better than going home in a
bodybag.”