Hōkūleʻa is set to depart California for Hawai‘i as early as Dec. 1. The double-hulled canoe will be transported home in a Matson ship, which is currently scheduled to arrive in Honolulu on Dec. 6.
Master navigator and Polynesian Voyaging Society CEO Nainoa Thompson said much of the preparation needed to ship Hōkūle’a home, such as making her light and cleaning her up, has already been completed.
"The last task will be taking her up to Long Beach where Matson Navigation Company will be loading her on one of their ships and bringing her home," Thompson said.
The current plan is to depart Long Beach on Dec. 1 and arrive in Honolulu five days later. Until then, Hōkūle‘a will remain docked at the San Diego Maritime Museum, where she has been for the last week.
"The people of California, and Southern California, and San Diego — they’ve been just extraordinary in terms of coming down and caring for this canoe and crew the whole way through," Thompson said.
"And they’re gonna be coming down … So we’ll have three days where we can have an engagement with them … and that’ll be on the 27, 28 and 29 of November."
PVS announced in September that Hōkūle‘a would be returning home in the wake of the West Maui wildfires.
This decision re-routed the double-hulled canoe, which had completed the first nine legs of the four-year Moananuiākea Voyage.
"We need to be responsive to Hawai‘i nei. We are not going to change the overall commitment that we made to all the ports around the Pacific but we may change the time frame so that we’re adjusting to what matters and what’s most important," Thompson said.
He said the details of Hōkūle’a's arrival ceremony are still being worked out and will be announced over the next couple of weeks.
Take a look at HPR's past coverage of Hōkūleʻa:
