Hōkūleʻa Arrives in Miami

Posted on 8 Dec 2016
In Education, Newsletter, Photo Galleries, Teachers, Updates

Day 24:December 3

After 1100 miles and 16 stops we made it to Miami today. This will be the final stop for Leg 25.

The day itself was a 9.5 hour run, 77 miles from West Palm Beach. We ducked under several very low bridges and passed through some very crowded areas of the Waterway with lots of boat traffic.

The city became more and more apparent throughout the day as we saw more and more high rises, tourist boats, cruise ships, luxury yachts, and shipping barges.
The weather was warm and cloudy, and our last lunch underway was hamburgers made by Keala Kai and Jackie Meggs. We were accompanied by a small boat, and a sailing canoe as we neared Shake-A-Leg Marina.

They followed us in and a great sigh of relief was exhaled by the whole crew as we made our last and final safe docking. There were a few standing by on the docks to bid us aloha, and it was a quiet non-ceremonious arrival.

We bid farewell to Randy Rickard who will be leaving us tomorrow. First item on the agenda for the morning is to raise our masts back up, change the sails and then raise the spars and booms as well. We will be provisioning food for the next leg as well as completing our manifest and checklists. We will be having some student groups come down to the waʻa this week as well, so we will be keeping busy during the rest of our time here with Hōkūleʻa.

Day 25: December 4

One first full day in Miami was a busy one. We started first thing in the morning with raising the masts, spars and booms, as well as changing out the sails. This took about 4 hours to complete.

After that we were hosted by the folks at Shake-A-Leg Marina for lunch, where they barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers.

After lunch we began our kuleana checklists, inventorying all the various gear and supplies on board. We started with food and water and got through tools, sails, rigging, electrical, makana, safety equipment and everything in between. Around mid afternoon we finished up and were visited by three members of the Seminole nation where we had an exchange of protocol, gifts and stories.

We ate dinner on board and it was nice to sit under the awning and see Hōkūleʻa with her rigging back in place. This week we have a few small projects as well as provisioning food and water, and will be doing some outreach and engagement as well.

**SATURDAY, December 10th: Canoe Tours at Shake-A-Leg Marina from 10 am to 2 pm!**