Even though Islesboro is an island, it is very different from the island Oʻahu – it has rocky beaches, only an antique bookstore, no restaurants, no movie theaters. Even so, I enjoyed living there as well. I made friends at school, and in the summers, I learned how to sail! The ocean is colder and dark green up in Maine, but I still loved to swim in it.
How many of you have heard of Hōkūleʻa? She is a waʻa kaulua, or a double-hulled voyaging canoe, and she has traveled around the entire world! You might have seen her during the Pae ʻĀina sail over the last few months or at her 50th birthday celebration on March 8, but the first time I saw her was actually in Maine, during the Mālama Honua voyage where she sailed a big loop around the entire globe. It was so inspiring for me to see a piece of Hawaiʻi all the way over in Maine, and a voyaging canoe, no less! As a young sailor, I had a lot of questions to ask the crew, and they told me all about how the crab-claw sails work, how the whole waʻa is lashed, and how they use all their observations of the skies and oceans to navigate.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I had just started college. I decided to take a gap year (I didn’t want to do online classes!) and I came back to Hawaiʻi to live with my dad and one of my older sisters. I happened to know that Hōkūleʻa was in drydock – that’s when the crew and volunteers take her apart, re-varnish and repaint her, and then lash her back together so she stays seaworthy. So, during my gap year, I went down to volunteer with Hōkūleʻa! It was an amazing experience for me because I got to learn from all of the amazing people who came to help out.
