Raising A Soul Surfer Read Online Free PDF

part of his leg but survived by fighting the shark off with his bare hands. Like Bethany, Mike didn’t let his loss keep him from enjoying the ocean. With the help of a specially designed prosthetic leg, he has learned to stand-up surf along with continuing his passion for body boarding.
    Mike went on to get a photography degree at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California. In the film, he plays the part of a photographer shooting Loraine Nicholson, who is playing Alana in the beach photo shoot scene in
Soul Surfer
.
    Mike and Bethany’s stories are similar: Each was given a choice whether to be defeated or to come back stronger. These days, Mike keeps busy as a professional surf and lifestyle photographer, as well as speaking in defense of sharks from destructive fishing habits such as “finning” (cutting off the fin for food consumption and medical uses, and discarding the rest of the fish, often alive).
    Still young, adventurous and full of energy, Mike and another buddy, Miguel, towed the rotting carcass of a wild boar out into the ocean with a jet ski. Miguel waited, finger on the ignition, as Mike lowered a video camera strapped to a long paddle. It wasn’t too long before a 16-foot tiger shark appeared and snatched the pig down in one gulp!
    There is a lot of down time while scenes are being set up, but everyone seemed to make use of that time to catch up on endless cell phone calls. Sadly, this diminished the opportunity to get to know and interact with others on the set. Turning off all of those phones was critical during each scene take.
    With the strong trade winds and saltwater, the hairdressers were at their wits’ end. So you won’t see your favorite hairdo in
Soul Surfer
! When you’re surfing, you don’t care how your hair looks. Actually you may care, but there isn’t too much you can do about it while getting tossed and turned by the waves. It was an unending task keeping the actors looking like movie stars.
    Just being able to have our friends and family involved with us on this amazing project gave us a deeper sense of connection to the incredible fact that a movie was being made about us . . . about how a terrifying event on an October morning didn’t destroy us, but instead became a mighty outpouring of unprecedented blessing in our lives and in the lives of others.

    A tsunami came to the Hawaiian Islands on February 27, 2010, during the movie production. An 8.8 magnitude earthquake had struck in faraway Chile. Immediately, seismologists warned that a possible 3- to 7-foot tidal wave would race from one end of the Pacific to the other.
    Hawaii was right in its path.
    Years ago, in the 1950s, our next-door neighbors told us they had lost their oceanfront house in a tsunami but survived by immediately climbing the hill behind their house when they noticed the receding waters in the bay. I realized that tsunamis are something to take seriously. So when the air raid sirens started blaring at 6:00 A.M . on February 27, Sean disrupted our filming schedule and had everyone seek safety. The Turtle Bay Resort had rooms that were three stories high where they recommended the guests, actors and producers retreat.
    We stayed put as the phone book tsunami inundation map showed we were high enough on the hill to avoid the surge. Wecould look out of our window and watch as the neighbors packed up their barbecues, surfboards and jet skis.
    We had packed up a car more than once for tsunami alerts in the past. They have all hit but were too small to be of real concern. I researched and knew nothing would endanger us, so we figured this would be an opportunity to catch a few un-crowded waves!
    We loaded the car with surfboards and the camera after we saw the report that no tsunami was hitting other Pacific island locations in the path from Chile. The kids had a great surf session until the coast guard helicopter hovered and harassed them to leave the water. I have done intensive research on tsunamis and