Hokule‘a crew waits
to begin journey
HANALEI, Kauai » The Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule'a looked a bit out of place yesterday moored among the yachts arriving for the summer season.
Under a canopy that was erected at Black Pot Park at the mouth of the Hanalei River two weeks ago when the Hokule'a was becalmed there, the crews of the canoe and its escort ship packed limes in woven bags, ate pizza, drank beer and watched the sky a lot. They were helped by a large group of North Shore Kauai residents who have been on hand since the wind died.
Hokule'a captain Nainoa Thompson, who had just flown in from Honolulu, arrived with good news: The tradewinds had returned to Oahu and were working their way up the chain. Perhaps the Hokule'a could leave as scheduled at 6 a.m. the next morning.
Once the Hokule'a leaves Hanalei, it will be on what Thompson called "a very structured schedule" as it makes its way up the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Its first stops will be in the southernmost islands, where ruins of ancient Hawaiian settlements abound. Then on to Tern Island in French Frigate Shoals, a biology research station; then to Laysan Island, where workers have been restoring native plants; then to Midway to pick up a state research crew to go to the state wildlife preserve at Kure Island; then back to Midway.
Many of the crew members will be replaced at Midway by a new crew flying in from Oahu. It's the height of albatross nesting season on Midway and Thompson expects a major effort will be needed to clear the runway of the docile nesting birds.
"The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are like an ecological benchmark for those of us here in the mainland islands," Thompson said yesterday.
He went to those islands on a research trip two years ago.
"It gives us a true view of the capacity and diversity of what a healthy coral reef should look like," he said.
Thompson, who has been with the canoe since it was built in 1974, added: "The voyage, I hope, will ask a lot of questions about our values as a society. The child today who puts on a mask and goes to the reefs on the southern end of Oahu has no idea how those reefs really should look."
The second leg of the four-leg voyage will bring the Hokule'a back from Midway to Kauai's Nawiliwili Harbor. The third leg, from Nawiliwili to Hilo, may be the most important, Thompson said. Everyone on that crew will be age 35 and younger.
"The Hokule'a has become generational," he said. "The duty of my generation is to find you people who want to carry on the Hokule'a's work and help them."The final leg of the journey will take place only on weekends over 2 1/2 months. The canoe will sail from harbor to harbor making goodwill stops at harbors from Hilo back to Nawiliwili.
Thompson said: "Those who care about culture already have been deeply influenced. We hope we are offering an alternative message to what they are seeing on television."