Hōkūleʻa Update | May 23, 2015

Duane DeSoto

Aloha kākou, this is Duane DeSoto here in beautiful Sydney Harbor. We are exiting from our brief stay here. As you can see behind us, the beautiful Sydney Opera House and Sydney Bridge. The Hōkūleʻa crew is looking forward to getting underway and heading to Brisbane.  We’ve managed to get up our sails successfully, and they are full of wind with beautiful sun today. It seems like a beautiful and fitting departure for us. We want to thank the community here that embraced us. We had a lot of our aboriginal ʻohana come and our Polynesian ʻohana come down here to embrace us with their aloha and give mana to this waʻa. We had a really warm farewell to us just now, and stay tuned on Hokulea.com for our journey to come and have a beautiful day. Aloha!

Joia Karen Holman

Aloha kākou, this is Joia Holman reporting from Hōkūleʻa as we make our way out of Sydney Harbor and on to Brisbane. We had such an inspiring and heartwarming time in Sydney. We were welcomed so warmly by the community and hosted by the Maritime Museum. We had opportunities for many members of the public come down and visit with the canoe. A young girl, when asked to make a peace flag, had the most beautiful message of “Love the Earth the way the Earth loves you,” which is so inspiring to us. This morning as we departed, the community gathered and an aboriginal man shared how the canoe brings him hope, which is very special. Upon our welcome, another aboriginal man spoke of how he left us with two colors, not black and white, but red and white, which is bone and blood and unites all people since we are one. We had the most wonderful time here. Our hālau from Hawaiʻi was also here to perform, and we’re just so grateful for our time in Sydney. Mahalo nui. We’re on our way to Brisbane now, and we’re looking forward to connecting with communities there. And we’re so grateful to be making our way there, and keep following us on Hokulea.com. Mahalo!

Kawika Crivello

Aloha from Hōkūleʻa. As you can see, we are leaving Sydney Harbor right now with good energy. We are heading to Brisbane, Australia for our next leg. We’ve had a wonderful week meeting people, sharing, and exchanging cultures and stories. As we head out to Brisbane, we leave with good spirits and hoping for good weather. The crew is happy and healthy and ready to continue our Worldwide Voyage of Mālama Honua. As we leave Sydney, we leave in good spirits and it’s kind of sad for us because of the relationships we’ve built. But we need to move on, and as we move on to Brisbane, we hope to meet other people and build relationships. A good example of that is Hōkūleʻa’s crewmembers, myself included, went to the Indigenous Center of Excellence and we engaged with aboriginal youth and adults at the youth center for a couple hours of boxing and activities. We sat down after and answered questions from them. They were very interested in what we were doing. There were hugs and smiles shared. There was some tears as our cultures are so alike and the struggles that we share are alike. So please follow us on Hokulea.com and mahalo for all your prayers, support, and blessings to the Hōkūleʻa crewmembers. We’d like to say mahalo and a hui hou.

Kai Hudgins

Aloha kakahiaka from Kai and the Hōkūleʻa crew making our way out of Sydney and about four days from Brisbane. It was an amazing thing to see such a huge city and to see the indigenous people keep true to what they believe in. Aloha to the ʻohana, to mama and the good news. Looking forward to a couple days of good sailing and maybe a little more. Aloha to all the elementary and intermediate schools keeping up with us, and we’ll see you in a few days. Aloha!

Matahi Tutuvae

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