To Request a Phone Connection

Wherever possible, we will try to arrange for your students to speak to a crew member on board the Hōkūle'a via a satellite phone call. This is not easy!

Logistics to consider on your end:

1) You will need a good speaker phone and/or a mechanism for projecting the crew-members voice so all can hear. Please practice and coach your students to ask their favorite question by speaking slowly and clearly into the speaker phone.

2) Satellite time is expensive so make the best use of the "real" time while it is happening. Prepare the students to craft compelling questions. Commonly asked questions, such as how does one take a shower or go to the bathroom, are questions students are naturally curious about. However, the answers already appear on the PVS website (http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/lifedaily.html). The students will probably need to know the answers to these questions before they can think about crafting the next level of questions.

3) A crewmember on board Hōkūle'a will be assigned to call the phone number you give us via a solar powered phone during the time and date set up in advance. Transmission time will have to be limited to no longer than 15 minutes. Whatever time we choose maybe off by ten minutes or there is a chance the connection will be too weak for voices to transmit. There is also the possibility that the crew may not be able to call because of a change in weather conditions. When all hands are required on deck the crewmembers have to be attentive to the canoe and each other first, which for students is a part of the learning as well. If this happens please email Ann at anniebellh@earthlink.net or call (USA) 808-382-5997 and we will try to reschedule the phone call.

4) To lock in a tentative date (I use the word tentative because we are on ever changing canoe time, pending the weather), check on available dates by visiting the 2007 Hōkūle'a Calendar. Ignore any radio and media calls listed and count on a particular day as being available if no specific school is already listed for that day.

After you have picked a first and second alternative date and time e-mail Ann Bell at anniebellh@earthlink.net and give her your request along with your name, grade level, number of students, school address and phone number for the canoe to call and a cell or hard line phone number to reach you just before, during or after the transmission time. Also note whether you would like to request a crew-member who can speak Hawaiian or Japanese and if your class is studying any particular subject matter related to voyaging, cultural heritage or environmental stewardship.

5) Please do let us know how it went for you and the students. We are especially interested in suggestions as to how to improve the phone connection with the crew and what the students may have done to expand their learning and caring for their cultural and natural heritage beyond the voyage.

Mahalo nui loa and we look forward to experiencing this voyage along with each of you as we journey together as One Ocean, One People.