The Hokule‘a voyaging canoe, refreshed after four weeks in dry dock, sailed into Pearl Harbor Saturday morning as it resumed its Pae ‘Aina statewide tour and prepares for its 50th birthday celebration in March.
Rear Adm. Stephen Barnett, commander of Navy Region Hawaii, joined the crew aboard the Polynesian Voyaging Society vessel as it entered the harbor and was towed to Rainbow Bay Marina, where they were greeted warmly by other military officials and community members.
As they came ashore, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam commander Capt. Sam White, decked out in his Navy dress whites, grabbed the mooring line and helped pull the canoe to the dock.
It was only the second time Hokule‘a had sailed into the military base, an area traditionally known to Native Hawaiians as Wai Momi (Pearl Water) and Puu Loa (Long Hill).
“In the last five decades, (Hokule‘a) sailed over 200,000 nautical miles across the Pacific and completed over 13 major voyages,” Barnett said in remarks during a welcoming ceremony. “But she was fueled. She was fueled by self discipline, she was fueled by preparation, courage, risk-taking. But the most important fuel is the fuel of aloha, which is what she has.”
The Voyaging Society built Hokule‘a in 1975 to sail to Tahiti to test the viability of theories that Hawaii was first settled by Polynesians from the South Pacific who arrived through purposely planned trips and navigation, as opposed to passive drifting on currents or sailing from the Americas, which was commonly argued at the time.
Today it’s more widely believed Polynesians navigated from Asia across the Pacific, with DNA analysis backing up those theories.
Hokule‘a and its crew sailed using entirely traditional means that would have been available to the early Polynesians. That meant no magnetic compasses or other modern instruments; they had to rely on reading the position of the sun and stars in the sky and variations in sea currents to determine the time and the direction they were heading.
“As soon as this canoe hit the water, then it became really scary, really quickly, because no one had the skill,” recalled master navigator Bruce Blankenfeld, who has captained the traditional vessel on several voyages. “No one was around that understood how to control this canoe, how to sail it, how to just be in command and control of the canoe.”
But over five decades, experienced veterans and newcomers have helmed the canoe. Though initially built only for that first Tahiti voyage, Hokule‘a has continued to test its limits, having sailed the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans and crossed the Panama Canal using the same techniques as the original voyagers.
In 2023, the Hokule‘a set off on its Moananuiakea Voyage, a planned 43,000- nautical-mile, four-year-long circumnavigation of the Pacific with its sister canoe, Hikianalia. After arriving in Alaska, they traveled down the western coast of North America, but the plan was upended after the tragic 2023 Maui wildfires and concerns about the El Nino climate phenomenon that, along with existing climate change, posed potential dangers that year.
Hokule‘a and its crew cut the voyage short in California and returned to Hawaii to focus on supporting local communities.
“The level of hurt that’s happening in our home is something I can’t comprehend. All I know is that we have to come home because of it,” Nainoa Thompson, Polynesian Voyaging Society CEO, said in a news release at the time. “Lahaina is a voyaging powerhouse … I believe the family is going to need the canoe and the canoe is going to need the family.”
Hokule‘a began its statewide tour across Hawaii in August and has been making port calls across the islands, with the crew giving tours of the canoe and going out into communities and schools. Blankenfeld said the canoe “was built for the people of Hawaii — it belongs to all of us, it represents all of us.”
Over the holiday season it went into dry dock on Sand Island with crew members refurbishing and repainting the canoe before continuing its journeys. While docked at Pearl Harbor, the crew will again be giving ship tours while also doing school visits to teach students about the canoe and its history, as well as the ways of the ocean.
“Your bold commitment to our oceans and to our environment inspires future generations, which is why next week is so important,” said Barnett, referring to the scheduled activities. “We’re grateful for the wisdom, but we’re also grateful for the knowledge that you’ve shared and will continue to share over the years.”
After its 50th birthday celebration March 8 at the 16th Annual Kualoa/Hakipu‘u Canoe Festival at Kualoa Regional Park, Hokule‘a will leave Hawaii to resume the Moananuiakea Voyage, sailing south through Polynesia down to New Zealand before making its way to Asia.
