After making her historic first touch of the mainland US in the Everglades of Florida, Hōkūleʻa sailed across Florida through an inland waterway. At Cape Canaveral on the east coast of Florida, the crew honored Hawaiʻi-born astronaut Lacy Veach, along with Ellison Onizuka, another Hawaiʻi-born astronaut, for their extraordinary contributions to space voyaging, in an intimate ceremony onboard the canoe. Continuing their journey of connecting ocean wayfinding with space exploration, Hōkūleʻa crewmembers then visited Florida’s NASA Kennedy Space Center and engaged with the center’s staff.

As Hōkūleʻa and her crew move up the Intracoastal Waterway north from Florida, they pass through waters and coastlines that teach us valuable lessons about precious natural resources and how our environment changes over time. In Georgia, she sailed inland of Gray’s Reef, which was formed millions of years ago when bits of shell, sand and mud traveled via rivers and ocean to the Atlantic Coast and “cemented” together with seawater to form sandstone and has been designated as a National Marine Sanctuary. Hōkūleʻa also passed inland of Core Banks, a series of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina that comprise part of the Outer Banks and the National Park Service’s Cape Lookout National Seashore, which gave followers an opportunity to learn more about the wild horses, marine ecosystems and maritime history of Cape Lookout as Hōkūleʻa passes by.

Hōkūleʻa was greeted with an arrival ceremony at the Charleston Maritime Center, by various chiefs from Native American tribes in the area and other community leaders. While in Charleston, crew participated in the Charleston Outdoor Festival and hosted canoe tours. 

Hōkūleʻa and crew celebrated Earth Day in Newport News, VA, before arriving in historic Yorktown, VA, on the morning of Sunday, April 24, 2016,  greeted by the area’s Native American tribes and about 300 people from the community.  The arrival ceremony included a cultural welcome by Virginia Indian tribal chiefs from the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, Mattaponi Tribe and the Nottway Indian Tribe of Virginia.

From Yorktown, Hōkūleʻa will voyage North to Tangier Island and Old Town Alexandria, VA before visiting Washington, DC on the way to New York City where crew will celebrate World Oceans Day on June 8, 2016. Follow her location live for the most up to date information on the tracking map.