HONOLULU prints a special section on Hōkūle‘a, the 10-year-old voyaging canoe, covering its most ambitious journey to date: a two-year, nine-part “Voyage of Rediscovery,” retracing major routes traveled by ancient Polynesians.
Senior editor Victor Lipman joined the adventure from Tahiti to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, which takes 15 days. In Moorea, “They treat us like royalty,” he writes, and the crew takes part in ceremonies that include walking barefoot on hot coals (“I don’t think it’s a wise idea to risk burning your feet at the start of a long trip, but I give in to peer pressure”) and drinking kava. In Huahine, he observes people from the village feeding and stroking 15 to 20 giant eels like communal pets. He learns how master navigator Mau Piailug kills a mahimahi quickly, poking out its eye through the gills.