Polynesian voyaging canoe visits Panama

A TRADITIONAL  Polynesian voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa  on  a 60,000 nautical mile world  transited the Panama Canal last week to moor  at the Balboa Yacht Club while preparing for the next stage of its worldwide voyage,  to the Galapagos Islands.

Crew members collaborated  with local – and globally-based organizations including Earth Train, The Four Worlds International Institute, Inter Tribal Youth and The Balboa Paddle Club (CREBA) to engage  Panamanians in interactive, maritime-inspired activities.

Events included an in-depth tour of Hōkūleʻa and the building of a pre-Colombian maritime bamboo replica that will accompany the canoe as she departs Balboa and sets sail for the Galapagos Islands.

“The exchange of cultures throughout our stay in Balboa truly embodies the mission and spirit of our Worldwide Voyage,” said Bruce Blankenfeld, navigator and captain of Hōkūleʻa. “We’re dedicated to inspiring more communities to steward our Island Earth and the work we have planned alongside Panama’s indigenous people will help us strengthen the importance of our Mālama Honua message.”

Cayuco’ link
Chris Huerbsch, president of the Balboa Paddle Club lauded  “The opportunity to establish a much needed relationship between the cayuco community and Panama’s first peoples from whom  the sport of cayuco originated”

While the canoe was docked at the Balboa Yacht Club, bamboo builder Jörg Stamm, New Zealand boat builder James Laing, and students of the Metropolitan School of Panama and indigenous communities crafted  bamboo replicas of the sailing craft used by the pre-Colombian maritime cultures of coastal Ecuador. The raft will give a symbolic send-off to Hōkūleʻa as she departs from Panama Canal and re-enters the Pacific Ocean.

Additional events included an educational presentation on wayfinding hosted by The Biomuseo, and an interactive, presentation on the history of cayuco and its relationship to Panama’s first people by The Balboa Paddle Club.

The Hōkūleʻa crew also prepared for their final voyage home. Via  the Galapagos Islands, Rapa Nui and French Polynesia.

Hōkūleʻa is scheduled to make her return to Magic Island, Oʻahu on June 17.

To follow the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage, visit http://hokulea.com/track-the-voyage

On returning toHawaiíThe Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage will  have covered over 60,000 nautical miles, 125 ports, and 27 nations, including 12 of UNESCO’s Marine World Heritage sites.  to grow a global movement toward a more sustainable world..

Since departing Hawaiian waters, more than 200 volunteer crew    members have helped to sail Hōkūleʻa to spread the message of Mālama Honua (or taking care of Island Earth), Crew members have connected with more than 100,000 people in communities across the South Pacific, Tasman Sea, Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean including Samoa, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, Indonesia, Mauritius, South Africa, Brazil, U.S. Virgin Islands and Cuba.

(To learn more about Hōkūleʻa and this historic voyage, view: https://youtu.be/tRHtu8rCAC0