Hōkūle'a sighted the island of Hawai‘i on April 4, completing a successful training sail to Palmyra island and back, in preparation for the three-year global voyage scheduled to commence in 2012.

• Palmyra Training Voyage 2009 Blog

• Tracking Map-Palmyra Voyage 2009

• About Palmyra

Traditional Navigation Society of Yap 2009 (Click on link for more photos)

On 26 January 2009, two traditional canoes set sail from Yap, bound for Palau. The main purpose of the voyage, sponsored by the Traditional Navigation Society of Yap, was to recreate the sailing expeditions to Palau the Yapese made in the 16th-century to quarry stone money. The "Mathaw Maraw" was guided by Master Builder and traditional navigator, Chief Bruno Tharngan of Maap, while the 30-year-old "Simion Hokule'a," built by Master Navigator Mau Piailug and his brother on Satawal, was guided by Master Navigator Ali Haleyalur of Lamotrek. There were 17 crewmen on the two vessels: 8 on the "Mathaw Maram" and 9 on the "Hokule'a." [This information comes from a news release issued by Sebastian F. Tamagken, Chief of Media and Protocol for the Yap State Goverment.] The canoes arrived safely in Palau on 29 January.  (From Raymond Thomas Martin)

The "Simion Hokule'a" and her crew near the mouth of the Yap channel.

See also "Two traditional canoes left Yap for Palau" by  Bill Jaynes,  Kaselehlie Press, Kolonia, Pohnpei.

• Palmyra Training Voyage 2009 Blog

• Tracking Map-Palmyra Voyage 2009

• About Palmyra

• Hōkūle‘a Worldwide Voyage (WWV) 2012

• Nainoa Thompson: On the Worldwide Voyage and Beyond (Honolulu Advertiser, Sunday, March 22, 2009)

• Hōkūle‘a WWV Twitter Sign-Up

Photo: Hōkūle‘a at Sea / Kawaihae 2007 (courtesy of Michael F. O'Brien)

Please bring your family and friends for a departure ceremony to ensure a safe journey for the crews of Hōkūle‘a and Kamahele on their voyage to Palmyra Atoll. 

Date: Friday, February 27, 2009

Place: Marine Education Training Center, 10 Sand Island Parkway, Honolulu, HI 96819

5:30 pm  ~  Arrive

6:00 pm  ~  Blessing

6:30pm ~ Potluck & Informal Presentation

Please bring a potluck item to share according to your LAST name:

A-F (Salad)   G-K (Starch)   L-R (Main)   S-Z (Dessert)

Please park in the METC parking lot inside the red/white gate. If you park in the main parking lot by the beach, please park in VEHICLE ONLY stalls).

Please RSVP by February 23rd to Ramona at 842-1101 or pvsramona@hawaiiantel.net.

Hōkūle‘a Voyage to Palmyra Atoll

On or about March 1, 2009, a new crew of Polynesian wayfinders aboard the Hōkūle‘a – the iconic traditional Hawaiian open-ocean voyaging canoe – will set sail for the first time to Palmyra Atoll in the central Pacific. This month-long sail will train young navigators, captains and crew members as well as educators and scientists who will explore the open ocean, coral reefs and land of this remote and magnificent place. Using the Internet, they will interact with students while on the atoll and bring knowledge and lessons learned back home to Hawai‘i to help all of us navigate our own future.

Palmyra Atoll is located  in the Line Islands ,approximately 1,052 miles S/SW of Hawai’i. It is one of the most spectacular marine wilderness areas on Earth. Its 480,000 acres of lagoons, coral reefs, and submerged lands support a complex web of life: everything from sharks, sea turtles, manta rays, and giant clams, thousands of exotic fish, to a million nesting seabirds. Palmyra is a National Wildlife Refuge – and recently named a National Marine Monument – protected in partnership by The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Rats, ants, and parasitic scale threaten the atoll’s unique tropical forest and its reefs face the even greater threat posed by global climate change. Long recognized as an ideal natural marine laboratory, Palmyra is being developed as a center for scientific study.  What is learned at Palmyra promises to inform conservation strategies for island ecosystems throughout the Pacific and around the world.

Estimated departure from Honolulu is Saturday, March 1, 2009 (weather permitting). We are expected to return to Honolulu by March 30, 2009. The Kamahele will escort Hōkūle‘a throughout the short voyage to Palmyra.  The voyage is based on the Polynesian Voyaging Society-Hōkūle‘a crew training and educational efforts.

Hōkūle‘a –  Crew to Palmyra

1. Bruce Blankenfeld – Captain - Navigator
2. Manavaroa Kamaki Worthington – Watch Captain – Apprentice Navigator
3. Kaina Holomalia – Watch Captain
4. Chris Baird – crew
5. Angela Faanunu – crew
6. La`akea Caravalho – crew
7. Heather Nahaku Kalei – crew
8. Eli Witt – Crew
9. Pauline Sato – Crew
10. Jenna Ishii – Crew
11. Dr. Pete Roney

Hōkūle‘a – Crew to Hawai‘i

1. Russell Amimoto – Captain
2. Bruce Blankenfeld – Navigator
3. Kaina Holomalia – Watch Captain
4. Mike Taylor – Crew
5. Kamaka`aina Seipp - Crew
6. Zack Keenan – Crew
7. Heidi Guth - Crew
8. Kaleo Wong – Crew
9. Kealoha Hoe – Crew
10. Kailin Kim – Crew
11. Dr. Rob Frankel

Kamahele  - Crew to Palmyra

1. Mike Cunningham – Captain
2. Gary Bulson - Crew
3. Mark Logan – Crew
4. Zack Keenan - Crew
5. Don Sheets – Crew

Kamahele – Crew to Hawai‘i

1. Mike Cunningham
2. Buddy McGuire – Crew
3. Sam Monaghan – Crew
4. ?? To be determined by 2/21/09
5. ?? To be determined by 2/21/09

Circumnavigating the Globe in Hōkūle‘a 

The training voyage to Palmyra is the first step in preparation for the most challenging and difficult journey yet of – charting a course circumnavigating the globe. This unprecedented worldwide voyage will include ‘ohana wa‘a, an intertwined community of traditional voyagers across the Pacific, joined by people in all walks of life on sea and land in more than 20 countries.

The main message to be carried by  Hōkūle‘a – Mālama (care for) Island Earth – its natural environment, children, and all humankind. Education is core to the mission of the worldwide voyage, inspiring and giving strength to the voices of our youth who will inherit our Earth.

Throughout the voyage, crew members will connect with students in Hawai‘i through the Internet. Upon return from Palmyra Atoll, crew members will share their experiences and knowledge gained about human impact on islands and the resiliency of reefs to recover with a variety of audiences throughout Hawai‘i. And they will continue training along with many more future crew members as they embark on perhaps the most significant voyage of their lives.

On February 2, 2009, Hokule'a will sail past Kilauea Lighthouse on the island of Kauai to kick-off a commemorative year honoring Hawai’i’s first National Wildlife Refuge, which is now established as Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. (Photo below: Hokule'a sailing past Nihoa in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Click photo to enlarge.)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is planning a very important milestone: the upcoming Centennial year for the Nation’s 12th and Hawai’i’s first National Wildlife Refuge. To do so properly, Hokule`a, sponsored by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, will voyage past Kilauea Lighthouse on the island of Kauai February 3, 2009 to kick-off a commemorative year of activities honoring the kūpuna who sailed before us while celebrating a century of conservation efforts and honoring the generations of mālama `āina. 

For more information: contact Ann Bell at 808-792-9532.

Background: On February 3, 1909 Theodore Roosevelt set aside the islets and reefs from Nihoa to Kure (except Midway) as Hawaiian Islands Reservation.  Later renamed the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, the site was established to provide a form of legal protection for the millions of seabirds inhabiting the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, at a time during our past when seabirds were being slaughtered by the thousands for their plumage and eggs.  Albatross and other seabirds were an easy harvest for poachers, even as far away as the shores of our Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, harming the very essence of this productive marine ecosystem.  One hundred years later, on February 3, 2009, we are beginning a commemorative year for the centennial of this conservation achievement with a gathering of conservation leaders, kūpuna, volunteers, and the past and present caretakers of this special place. Hōkūlea will arrive carrying a symbol of  hope, inspiration and to honor those who sailed before us to this special place.  This celebration will honor not only the conservation efforts of the past, but for setting the stage for the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument today, and to share in the vision of a healthful future for the wildlife and culture intrinsic to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is hosting the event below the Kīlauea Lighthouse at Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge to recognize the care and commitments from those who voyaged before us to the northern part of the archipelago and also to respect families that have direct connections to Kauai's neighboring island of Nihoa. The Service chose to hold this event on the island of Kauai because of this genealogical connection, as well as its biological and management connection for our agency.  Kilauea Point is alive with seabirds and marine life and it was the site for the earlier administrative operations for Tern Island, a remote island station in the midst of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge.