For Molokaʻi’s Penny Martin, the Fourth of July means something different than it does to most people.
On July 4, 1976, she and fellow crewmembers of the original Hōkūleʻa voyage set sail from Tahiti, bringing the voyaging canoe back home to Hawaiʻi.
She was 24 years old, one of the youngest on board. She was also one of only two women selected for that original crew.
That voyage from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti and back represented proof that early Polynesians could sail across the ocean using only the stars to guide them.
Martin was waiting in Tahiti as Hōkūleʻa arrived in the South Pacific on June 4. She was joined by more than 15,000 people for an emotional homecoming as Hōkūleʻa appeared.
“The people just started wailing and crying and lifting up their arms and calling the canoe in. You look around you, and you go, 'This is one of the places that I'm from, this is who we are. This is our roots, we’re with our people.' Yeah, it's incredible," she said.
"The other things that we heard that day spoken was like, 'Welcome home. Where have you been? We've been waiting over 200 years for you to come home.' You know, I get teary just talking about it. They were so grateful that we did that, that we came home and brought this home to them," Martin continued.
A month later, Martin and 12 other crew members set sail back to Hawaiʻi.
Martin said that on the first night of the voyage, she was surprised by how quickly they lost sight of land and how fast it got dark. She was seasick much of the trip home.
The crew took turns on watch, steering the canoe under the captain’s direction. She remembers the ever-present roar of the wind and sometimes wishing she could turn it off to have a moment of quiet.
The voyage of nearly 3,000 miles took them 22 days.
“I remember we woke up early that morning and everybody's kind of anxious because they know we're close. Everybody's looking because you want to be the one to spot [land]. I remember we talked about the clouds. Like they looked different. Like they're just stationary. You think that there might be mountains under there," Martin said.
"And then finally, one of the mountain peaks stood up and we're like, 'Wow, can that be?' You know, it's such a feeling. You're standing on the canoe in the footprints of your ancestors, looking through their eyes. This is what it was like," she said.
Each anniversary of their voyage brings mixed emotions as more of the original crew pass away. Martin said it’s important for them to share their stories.
One of her favorite stories is from the day they crossed the equator, which was also the captain’s birthday. She brought out a treasured can of Almond Roca she had been given in Tahiti and shared it for the special occasion.
“Everybody's like, 'Oh my God, chocolate!'" she said. "I remember, just like licking that little foil and savoring that little morsel of Almond Roca. Best Almond Roca in the whole world.”
Today, Martin works as a culturally based environmental educator, sharing with youth the lessons she learned aboard the canoe.
Hōkūleʻa is currently in Alaska on a 43,000-mile voyage to circumnavigate the Pacific over the next two years.
"It's amazing to see it on the news and see her sitting in frigid waters. And it's also amazing to see the reaction of the indigenous people, come out and greet the canoe and love the canoe like we do," Martin said.
"It's just in their DNA. And when they see something like Hōkūleʻa, it just tugs at them, awakens something in them.”
Stay tuned for HPR's coverage of Hōkūleʻa as reporters interview crew members and track their progress through the Pacific:
