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Hōkūleʻa arriving in Cape Town, South Africa on November 12, 2015 (photo courtesy of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, ʻŌiwi TV and Sam Kapoi)

The crew of Polynesian Voyaging Society Hōkūleʻa has reached the climax of the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage’s most ambitious leg—the final stop on the South African leg of her historic journey. South Africa marks the halfway point of the Worldwide Voyage and the furthest point from Hawaiʻi for Hōkūleʻa and her crew. Hōkūleʻa arrived into Cape Town on Thursday, November 12.

Three members of the University of Hawaiʻi ʻohana are participating in the South Africa leg of the World Wide Voyage. They are Chad Kalepa Baybayan, navigator-in-residence for the ʻImiloa Astronomy Center at UH Hilo; Linda Furuto, associate professor of curriculum studies at UH Mānoa and Honolulu Community College Associate Professor and Director of Marine Maintenance and Repair Robert Perkins.

The Hōkūleʻa and her crew are expected to spend one week in Cape Town. They will be joined by a 60 person delegation of Hawaiʻi educators, students and families. Together, they will support the Mālama Honua mission of the voyage by engaging with the local community through various activities to be held throughout the week including a ceremony of friendship, a service project at Table Mountain National Park, a cultural exchange and a surf session with The Surfer Kids, canoe tours, school visits and more.

The University of Hawaiʻi is an education partner in Hōkūleʻa’s Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage. More than 50 University of Hawaiʻi faculty, staff and students from UH Mānoa, UH Hilo, UH West Oʻahu, Honolulu Community College, Kapiʻolani Community College, Leeward Community College, Windward Community College, Kauaʻi Community College and UH Maui College are actively participating in the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage.

—Story includes excerts from a Polynesian Voyaging Society news release

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