Honoring Maui: Hawaiian canoe visits Tacoma on 43,000-mile journey around the Pacific
Nicole Juliano found it hard to speak without tears welling up Wednesday. The native Hawaiian was watching a rare sight in Tacoma: A double-hulled Polynesian canoe tie up at a dock near the Foss Waterway Seaport.
Juliano and hundreds of Hawaiians, Polynesians, Native Americans and others were on hand for the arrival of the Hōkūle‘a. The 62-foot-long traditional voyaging canoe is making a 7-day stop in Tacoma during its 43,000-nautical mile circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean.
“It’s hard to be far away from home,” said Juliano, a Seattle resident and Pacific Lutheran University employee.
One family member lost their home in the recent Maui fire that destroyed the town of Lahaina and killed at least 115 people.
“I have many friends and family who are first responders, and they’ve been going hard,” she said.
Juliano was one of the organizers of the visit.
“It feels like I’m able to contribute even if I’m far away from home, because we know that our mele (songs) reverberates across the Moananuiākea (Pacific Ocean).”
The Hōkūle‘a arrived in traditional Puyallup waters Wednesday morning and was met by tribal members in two of the tribe’s canoes. The trip’s purpose, according to Hōkūle‘a crew member and sometimes captain Mark Ellis, is connecting indigenous Pacific cultures which each other and with the natural environment.
“We’re sharing a message of caring for our Earth,” Ellis, 54, said. “And just bringing awareness to our planet. And then also share with them our traditional knowledge of voyaging, as well as wayfinding and navigation.”
Moananuiākea journey
The 47-month circumnavigation of the Pacific by Hōkūle‘a and its sister ship, Hikianalia, is using a rotating crew of five that will eventually reach 400 members. The Moananuiākea journey will visit 36 countries and archipelagoes, 100 indigenous territories and 345 ports when it’s finished.
The all-volunteer crew members rotate in and out, usually spending 3-4 weeks on board, Polynesian Voyaging Society spokesperson Sonja Rogers said.
The canoe was barged to Tacoma from Honolulu in June and then again to Juneau, Alaska where it began its journey, Rogers said. It’s traveled 1,700 miles so far.
On Wednesday, the Hōkūle‘a arrived with a string of feathers hanging from the top of its two masts. They were gray at the bottom and pink at the top, symbolizing Lahaina rising from the ashes, Rogers said. Each of the canoe’s two bows carried leafy leis. More were added after it docked.
Welcome
As the Hōkūle‘a neared the Foss, it was met by a flotilla of local outrigger canoes. Tugboat crews watched the spectacle as they cruised by on their way to meet an incoming freighter.
On shore, local Hawaiians greeted the Hōkūle‘a with the trumpet-like sound of conch shells. As it sailed by, the crew and spectators sang the call and response “Aue Ua Hiti E” chant to each other. It proclaims the canoe has arrived.
On board was Puyallup tribal elder Connie McCloud who sailed down from Seattle with the Hawaiians. On shore, tribal member Chris Briden sang and drummed welcoming songs to the Hōkūle‘a’s crew in Twulshootseed.
“Oh, honorable people. You are my believed family,” he said in both the tribal language and English. “You all have traveled really far. You have paddled really hard. Please come ashore today so that we may visit one another. We can share good gifts. We can share food. We can share songs.”
Briden later said the Puyallups and Hawaiians have many similarities.
“I heard the way they were talking to each other,” he said. “They use the same words as we do. They’re calling the women auntie and the men uncle.”
Navigating the ocean and life
The Hōkūle‘a uses two reddish-brown sails for its propulsion and has a draft of 2-1/2 feet. The 20-foot-wide boat was built in Honolulu and launched in 1975. It has a traditional double hull construction.
Since its launch, it has sailed 140,000 nautical miles around the Pacific Ocean.
At first, it sailed alone during long distances, including journeys between Hawaii and Tahiti. But that changed in 1978 when a storm capsized the canoe. Legendary surfer Eddie Aikau was on board the stricken boat and used a surfboard to swim to Lanai in an attempt to get help. He was never seen again.
Since then, the canoe travels with a powered escort boat.
Rogers said the Hōkūle‘a uses traditional Polynesian wayfinding and navigation based on the stars, sun and currents. Ancient Polynesians didn’t drift around the ocean as Kon Tiki author Thor Heyerdahl popularized, she said.
“This canoe helped prove that the ancient Hawaiians were explorers and could navigate from Hawaii and find new islands,” she said.
For Ellis and his fellow crew members, wayfaring is a metaphor for life.
“We make decisions at sunrise and sunset. Where are we going? And where are we now?,” Ellis said. “Good choices then become good choices of caring for others, caring for the earth. Then we believe that the earth will be a better place.”
If you go
What: Free public tours of Polynesia canoe Hōkūle‘a.
When: 1-4 p.m. Friday; 9-11 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Foss Waterway Seaport, 705 Dock Street, Tacoma.
Information: hokulea.com/, fosswaterwayseaport.org/
This story was originally published August 31, 2023 at 11:27 AM.
