Hokulea has one last weekend before the launch of her four-year navigation of the Pacific.
Tomorrow, the voyaging canoe will return to Juneau, Alaska to continue it’s outreach in the State. There will be a traditional welcome ceremony where the crew will remain in Juneau for a few days for community and educational engagements.
To pay homage to PVS’ Alaska family, Hōkūleʻa is on a pre-voyage Alaska Heritage Sail. The first stop was Yakutat, home of the late Byron Mallott, whose leadership in the early 90ʻs enabled the donation of two 200-foot Sitka spruce logs to Hawaiʻi for the hulls of the voyaging canoe Hawaiʻiloa. Hōkūleʻa will also visit Hoonah to honor former Sealaska Forestry Manager, the late Ernie Hillman, who was tasked to find and fell the two spruce trees. Then finally, Hōkūleʻa will stop in Haines, home of the late Judson Brown, an Alaska Native elder whose profound kindness and compassion for another native people trying to revive and hold onto tradition, lead them to Byron, Ernie, and ultimately, as Judson said, “the gift of our children.”
On June 10, Hōkūleʻa is scheduled to return to Juneau and will be greeted with a traditional tribal welcome ceremony at Auke Bay, the traditional lands of the A’akw Kwáan. The canoe and crew will remain in Juneau for a few days of community and educational engagements. The Alaska Host Committee includes representatives from Sealaska Corp., First Nations Institute and Tlingit & Haida Tribes of Alaska.
On Thursday, June 15, PVS will hold the Global Launch of Moananuiākea Voyage, a four-hour ceremony to bless and celebrate the start of Hōkūleʻa’s circumnavigation of the Pacific. Hōkūleʻa’s departure will be dependent on weather. Upon departure, she will voyage south with scheduled stops in Angoon, Kake, Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan, Saxman, Metlakatla and Hydaburg.
Hōkūleʻa’s sister canoe Hikianalia will join the voyage in Seattle, WA in August of this year.
