Hōkūleʻa and her crew are making their way through the busy Inside Passage, a coastal route running from the Alaskan Panhandle through British Columbia to the Pacific Northwest.
A fresh set of crewmembers have flown into Prince Rupert Island, B.C. to guide Hōkūleʻa along this rugged Canadian coastline.
Hōkūleʻa crew member Lehua Kamalu just landed in Prince Rupert on Tuesday.
"I’m staring at a whale outside, I’m just losing my mind. So Hōkūleʻa is docked just a little bit further down from where I am. It is warm today, in the 70s," Kamalu said.
"Although they say this town is very very rainy it’s not raining right now, and I am very happy for that. The rain here is very cold," she laughed.
Kamalu is the Voyaging Director for the Polynesian Voyaging Society. She said leadership training is underway for crew members on this next leg of the voyage down the B.C. coast.
"Because we’re in the nearshore coastal areas of British Columbia, there’s a lot of obstacles in the way of islands and boats and rocks, a lot of things, a lot of challenges that we donʻt have in Hawaiʻi. So a little bit of that is just the technical details of navigating that coastline," she said.
Hōkūle’a has been docked in Prince Rupert since Friday when she was greeted by two canoes and nearly 100 community members.
"It’s just a bit overwhelming sometimes upon arrival being ready for that because we are traveling so quickly through the area, we wish we could stay longer in every port," Kamalu said.
She added that crew members have been able to join the local First Nations communities in gathering food from fish to berries to seaweed.
"I mean, let’s just say we’ve been on a steady state of kanak attack. We have to remember, like okay we’re getting up at 3 a.m. tomorrow. I would be surprised if anyone has lost weight on this trip," she joked.
Hōkūleʻa is set to depart Prince Rupert Thursday. The next stop is Klemtu, British Columbia.
Stay tuned for HPR's coverage of Hōkūleʻa as reporters interview crew members and track their progress through the Pacific:
