Hōkūleʻa Update | July 23, 2016

Posted on 26 Jul 2016
In Education, Newsletter, Photo Galleries, Teachers, Updates

Hōkūleʻa, the traditional voyaging canoe from Hawaii, made her anticipated arrival at Mt. Desert and was officially welcomed by the community on Saturday morning. On this current leg of the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage, the crew is continuing to honor First Peoples in the East Coast region, teaching and learning about traditions and practices of protecting cultural and environmental resources.

Hōkūleʻa making her way up beautiful Somes Sound.

Canoes deployed by tribes of the Wabanaki Nation sailed alongside the vessel to welcome her before she docked at JW Boat Company (Hall Quarry Road). Hōkūleʻa and her crew were greeted with a welcome ceremony from the Wabanaki and members of the Mt. Desert community. The ceremony gave Hōkūleʻa crew members and the Mt. Desert community a chance to interact with each other through exchanges of cultural traditions, and share their thoughts on the historic significance of the connection made between the groups. After the ceremony, the crew engaged with the public and conducted canoe tours. Today, a crew presentation was scheduled at JW Boat Company and the public was invited to attend.

Truly a beautiful sight to see as members of the Penobscot Nation paddle their traditional birchbark canoes out to greet Hōkūleʻa and crew.

On Tuesday, youth groups from the area are slated to visit Hōkūleʻa. Later that afternoon, there will be another crew presentation in the Gallery at Abbe Museum on Mount Desert Street that will be open to the public.

A gift of sweet grass is shared with our captain.

Mt. Desert is the last stop for this leg (Leg 21) of the Voyage, which has included engagements throughout the New England area over the last five weeks. A new crew will be departing Honolulu for Mt. Desert tomorrow to start the next leg (Leg 22) of the journey, which will take Hōkūleʻa to Canada for the first time in history.