University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa graduate student and apprentice navigator Haunani Kane is featured in ʻŌiwi TV’s Voyaging for the Future: Great Barrier Reef. In the episode, Kane shares her experience exploring the Great Barrier Reef alongside UH coral researcher Ruth Gates and navigator Nainoa Thompson, fulfilling a lifelong dream while continuing her research on island environments and the impact of climate change on coastal zones.
“It has been an amazing experience so far exploring the Great Barrier Reef and meeting all the people passionate about protecting it,” said Kane. “Although we’re all from different parts of the globe, the underlying theme of taking care of our natural resources genuinely connects us all.”
About the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage
The Polynesian Voyaging Society’s Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage is an ongoing, 47,000-mile voyage in which two polynesian voyaging canoes, the Hōkūleʻa and the Hikianalia, are sailing around the world in an effort to promote a more sustainable future.
Kane is part of a new generation of navigators that are helping to preserve the ancient Hawaiian art of navigation through hands-on experience and outreach in communities across the globe.
As of 2015 the Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia have made port in French Polynesia, Sāmoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Aotearoa and Australia. The voyage began in 2013 and is expected to continue through 2017.
For more Polynesian Voyaging Society stories, visit the ʻŌiwi TV website.
—By Kapiʻolani Ching