It just feels like you're being pulled home.

Its forces are so much bigger than us.

At some point you feel like you become part of it, not apart from it.

( water lapping gently )

Man: I was a good swimmer.

I was swimming in the ocean before I was five.

We just took a breath and looked down.

The water was glass clear.

The spires of light came down like a cathedral.

It was like in another world, and I never forgot it.

So I was hooked. I tell you, I was hooked.

Man: That was such a magic time for me as a kid.

I mean, I can't even really describe it.

Woman: I just remember thinking it was so cool how weightless I was.

Man: Its forces are so much bigger than us.

Woman: At some point, you feel like you become

part of it, not apart from it.

Man: It's like therapy for me when I have problems.

Man: For each of us, it's our own private church,

our own private temple.

♪

If I didn't go diving, we didn't have food.

I mean, really, that's the truth.

So it was like pay a babysitter or take her with me.

Fishing and diving have been like the main activities

that my dad and I would do together since I was little,

and even when it became something where, like,

our family didn't depend on it to put food on the table,

it was just always our favorite way of spending time together.

Yeah, hard to argue when you're underwater, huh?

( both laugh )

Well, when she was little, you know,

she could only go down maybe six or seven feet, you know,

and I could dive, like, 50 feet.

And so she wanted to do everything I could do, you know,

as I think most kids do, and I just kept pressing

until it's just about relaxing.

It always mesmerized me how my dad could dive deep

and just go-- go get these fish and hold his breath for so long.

And so I would just practice holding my breath.

I'd watch him go down,

and I would see if I could hold my breath on the surface.

There were definitely times where I would feel scared,

where I would realize how deep I was

and realize how small I felt,

and I would get freaked out, but the minute I saw my dad,

like, just the minute I just saw his silhouette in the distance,

I just knew I was safe.

I used to dive down and be at the bottom

and wave at her, and when she got in her 20s,

we went diving together and she--

we both swan down about 20 feet, and then she waved goodbye

and swam down another 50 or 60.

( laughs ) I couldn't do it anymore.

Kimi: It was just an incredible world

to be introduced to.

It was a world where I could fly.

Just being able to watch all the fish down below me

and for once, I was the bird in this world.

♪

Man: Kimi is best known for her spearfishing,

and what a lot of people don't realize

is it takes an actual incredible amount of knowledge,

and there's a lot of different variables.

There's that physiological side, just trying to get your body

under control and actually almost rewire your body

in a lot of ways and take things

that are supposed to be involuntary reflexes

and being able to control them,

like getting your heart rate low

and actually changing the way that your body

distributes oxygen and blood.

Then you have to have the CO2 tolerance.

Kimi: As I take a drop,

I have to kind of break through

this first barrier of atmosphere,

but I get to this point where that buoyancy changes

and it becomes negatively buoyant,

and once that happens, I just start to sink,

and that was a feeling that, you know,

when I first started doing these deeper drops,

it kind of scared me because you feel like

you're getting pulled, pulled somewhere

that you might not be ready to go yet.

But the more that I would surrender to it,

it just feels like--

it just feels like you're being pulled home.

Mark: And then when you hit the bottom,

that's when you start, you know,

looking at the chessboard.

You're looking for, you know, cover.

You're seeing what other small fish

that usually hang around something that you like,

or you see something-- a fish off in the distance

you want to target.

She has a way of acting like...

"I'm just another fish down here.

Don't worry about me,"

until she brings her spear gun up and nails it.

Most of us are obvious humans down there.

Kimi's not.

Kimi: There is always mixed emotions that come with it.

There's part of me that feels the victory of the catch,

the victory of securing this food,

and there's another part of me that will always feel

compassion and a bit of sorrow for my prey.

I think that when she figured out

she could go out and feed herself,

that was a life-changing moment for her.

She was always a cook.

From like six years old, she wanted to cook,

and to go out and get the fish she wants to get

and then cook them, it just opened up

a whole new world for her.

Kimi: To me, there's no better way to honor my catch

than to share it with others.

I mean, I can see it with in people.

It makes every single bite mean that much more to them

when I tell them how deep I had to dive

or what the ocean looked like or how many fish there were,

swimming through a cave

or the shark that almost took it,

whatever the case is, I know that

when I share that story, it becomes an experience.

It becomes something worth honoring.

I mean, I-- I'd never been really been,

like, afraid of sharks.

But I wouldn't-- when I would see one,

I would just act like, you know, you're over there.

I'm over here, I'm doing my on thing.

But I'd pull my fish in so they couldn't get them.

And then if they'd come at me, I would push them away.

Well, Kimi, as soon as she sees one,

she'll swim right towards it.

That's-- I never got to that point, you know?

Kimi: When I first started spearfishing

on my own as an adult,

I would get pretty terrified if I saw shark.

I think slowly, I just started to get

more comfortable with them.

And then one day, I just remember

something changed in me where I was pulling in

a nice fish that I was gonna bring home for dinner,

and this big shark came up to take it,

and I just swam faster towards my catch,

pulled it in faster, closer to me,

everything that was bringing this shark much closer to me,

but I got my hands on it and just pulled in towards me

and swam at that shark just to tell it like,

"Not today, buddy, like, like go get your own dinner.

This one's mine."

And the minute I did that, that shark took off.

And that just taught me a lot.

It taught me the energy I put out there,

the confidence and the courage that I show

in holding my ground, it's gonna communicate

to the sharks what kind of animal I am.

♪

She's miles ahead of where I ever dreamed of being.

I mean, you hear people say,

"Oh, you taught her how to dive."

I couldn't teach her how to do what she does.

That's just nuts.

All I take credit for

is I got her comfortable in the water,

and that's really it.

Kimi: When you're underwater, there's no street signs.

There's no way telling you which way to turn

or which way to go, but in the same respect,

the signs are everywhere.

Everything all of a sudden just goes quiet,

and now that it's quiet, I open my eyes,

and all I hear is my dad's voice saying,

"Just relax and remember how to swim."

Man: I love it.

I don't know how to describe it.

It's really scary but so good at the same time.

And that's why I do it.

( speaking native language )

Man: You have to be in the ocean.

Whatever you do, it has to be ocean-related.

So, uh...

sooner or later, it's surfing.

( man speaking native language )

Matahi: Waves from underwater, it's totally different.

It looks really nice, like friendly.

You think it's not really power,

but once you get in it,

it just bring you straight on the reef.

Man: Coming from Hawaii, I've surfed some pipeline,

I've surfed some heavy waves here,

but the difference in Tahiti and the wave

is how much more perfect it is

than any other wave I've ever seen.

The thing was just surreal looking,

and it looked like it would kill you if you fell.

Matahi: My grandfather, my dad always told me

to be humble in the water.

First you have to show respect to nature and the ocean.

When I go surf, I always make sure

I'm 100% with good health,

and especially when there's big waves.

I mean, it's razor-sharp reef.

If you fall, you're gonna get cut to shit.

Bjorn: I like surfing,

Mostly the fun part, like six feet,

you know, like, it's fun.

There's some danger but minimal.

It's a different thing.

And you see your kids on much bigger waves.

Uh, I feel like sometime

like I'm not doing my job as a parent.

Surfing big waves,

it's more like waiting the big swell,

sometime they come, sometime they don't,

and the stress is always there.

You go check the waves, and you know

it's gonna get bigger, and there's always that thing

in your mind telling you, oh,

you're gonna have to go for the big one.

I don't know, that's how I think every time,

every time right before I sleep.

Kohl: If you know it's gonna big the night before,

you're not sleeping much unless you're good at sleeping.

It feels like the whole ocean is sucking up

and the sea level's changing.

When it's on...

there's nothing like it.

And here's this local kid, Matahi, surfing this wave

better or as good as anybody else in the world.

Two years ago when I was 16, tried to tell us to not surf.

We didn't listen, and we went surfing,

and that was the best day of my life.

( crowd cheering )

So big and so massive and so effed up...

just kind of blew everyone's minds.

To this date, that's, in my mind,

gotta be the biggest wave anyone's ever ridden out there.

I didn't realize how big it was, like, at the moment.

I made the drop.

Uh, for a moment, I thought I was gonna die,

but that's when you feel so alive.

Bjorn: Didn't really feel uncomfortable.

Sometimes you feel like you're just melting

in your boat watching them. ( laughs )