Hōkūleʻa Update | July 26, 2015

Crewmember Kaiwi Hāmākua-Mākuʻe updates from Hōkūleʻa anchored off of Ashmore Reef in the Timor Sea. Hōkūleʻa’s next stop will be Bali, Indonesia.

Welina mai kākou e nā hoa makamaka mai ka puka ana ka lā i ka hikina a ka welo o ka lā i komohana. Mai ka hoʻokuʻi a ka hālāwai. Mai ka moana hohonu a hiki loa i ka ʻoiʻoi o nā Mauna-a-wakea. Aloha.

My name is Kaiwi Hāmākua-Mākuʻe and I am a crewmember on Hōkūleʻa. For the past three days we have been here at beautiful Ashmore Reef. Such a beautiful place with a lot of history. When we first towed here three days ago and it was interesting that we saw about a dozen sea snakes. When we arrived here, we learned about this place and learned that about two decades ago this place was heavily populated with sea snakes. We learned that about 13 different species lived here and that there was about 40,000 sea snakes counted here in this area. Australian officials even said that if you came here with your boat you could not even get off of your boat because there were so many sea snakes around your boat. When we arrived here for the past three days, we actually didn’t see any sea snakes, which we find really interesting. We saw a lot of different other animals and organisms, a vibrant reef, lots of fish, lots of turtles, even a few different rays but no sea snakes so it raises questions. There obviously has been a change over the past decade. We don’t know why but its just an interesting observation that we could bring more awareness to.

Kāne o Hōkūleʻa Ka Lani

Nainoa studying charts

Kaniela jamming Kaʻau's guitar

Kaiwi & Kaniela working on their new band

Lehua fixing things

Dr. Craig sitting on a cooler

Jenna working on logistics for Bali

Nainoa & Jenna in the Hōkūleʻa conference room

Crew enjoying Tsampa soup from Patagonia

Please help keep us sailing for future generations. All contributions make a difference for our voyage. Mahalo nui loa!