Hōkūleʻa and her crew have spent the last month visiting Indigenous communities throughout the Alaskan Panhandle.
The crew finally made their way across the Canadian border Tuesday, landing safely in Old Massett, the ancestral homeland of the Indigenous Haida people.
Hōkūleʻa crew member Mahinalani Cavalieri was not yet born the last time a Polynesian voyaging canoe visited the Indigenous people of Craig, Alaska. But that hasn’t stopped the community from reminding her of that inaugural visit.
"They were showing us photos of them from the early 90s when they were younger when Hawaiʻiloa another canoe came up to Craig, Alaska. So just hearing about how they are connected personally to the waʻa, and now they’re bringing their grandchildren or their children to meet and see Hōkūleʻa," Cavalieri said.
She said it's a similar narrative up and down the Alaskan coast. Cavalieri jumped on the waʻa in Ketchikan with stops in Metakatla and Hydaburg.
"The sailing conditions — we've just been very fortunate. We have been blessed with amazing weather from Ketchikan all the way down and I was even telling my loved ones back home that I didn’t realize I’d be wearing slippers and shorts, and just t-shirts in Alaska," Cavalieri said.
Crew members are keeping a close eye on the winds and tides as they make their way to Old Masset or Haida Gwaii, a culturally significant place for the Indigenous Haida people.
Cavalieri says Hawaiʻi can learn a lot from the Haida people.
"Their relationship with their land, their relationship with the sea around them — it's intrinsic. It's essential for them because they have a short window to harvest. They really live in harmony with their seasons. When I see that I know personally I'm just in awe, because in Hawaiʻi we don’t have those constraints," she said.
Hōkūleʻa and her crew will remain in Haida Gwaii for several days before sailing to Prince Rupert, Canada.
Stay tuned for HPR's coverage of Hōkūleʻa as reporters interview crew members and track their progress through the Pacific:
