Karen Holman's Journal

Stillness came in the early hours of morning… the wind softened and whales surrounded the canoe. I was drifting between dream wanderings when the whales began to sing. Their song traveled through the hulls where I lay with my eyes closed. They were near, and as they slapped the surface of the ocean, vibrations traveled through the sea. On deck everyone was silent and the sky was clear, stars encompassing the space around us. Distant from city lights, I found myself unable to part with the infinite array of stars, and so I stayed beneath them, watching their passage till sunrise.

I was profoundly moved by my first experience sailing on Hōkūle‘a. As we opened sail and began to move with the wind, I felt child’s wonder rise in me, and a feeling deep within was awakened. Traveling towards the vast expanse of endless horizon, I could hear the inspirations of our ancestry. The canoe is filled with ancient whisperings, as though a channel to ancestral wisdom, timeless collective experience, and exploration. Our proximity to nature and to one another was powerful.  Laulima and care for each other emerged in everyone. It was unifying to work together as a team, all of us eager for knowledge. Our desire to be a part of this voyage around the world united our crew in a shared value system. With Captain Bob as our patient teacher, we learned and grew in the hours we spent together.

Throughout my watch I especially came to learn the feeling of steering on the sweep and moving with the ocean. Using your body weight, but at the same time giving to the waves, teaches you about the canoe. I look forward to dry dock, when I may learn more closely how Hōkūle‘a moves through the water. We had but only a taste of life on the canoe that left me longing to be deep sea voyaging. I hope to experience what Nainoa means when he says that voyaging strips you to who you are and makes you raw. With each passing day, I imagine becoming more connected with rising and setting of the sun, moon and stars, with reading swells, feeling subtleties in the wind, and scanning the sky for birds. I imagine becoming immersed in the simplicity of survival and working towards a shared goal with ‘ohana wa‘a; then sharing with communities across our home and navigating together towards a sustainable future.

Jen made us a delicious breakfast of sliced fruit and eggs. I washed the dishes and reveled in using the ocean water around me, rather than depleting aquafer water from a tap, as we do in our homes. As we neared Waikīkī, I noticed plastic floating everywhere, igloo tops and drinking cups seeping from the Ala Wai. A translucent film floated on the ocean’s surface, reinforcing to me the importance of Hōkūle‘a's voyage around the world as a messenger of peace, in the treatment of each other and of nature. Our oceans support life and we are filling the foundation of our existence with dangerous chemicals. The health of our oceans is directly related to the health of our people. We must develop a culture of conservation and stewardship instead of consumerism and resource depletion.

My work as an environmental educator began The Hawai‘i Nature Center where I have sought to share wonder with children and encourage stewardship of our Earth. Connecting children to nature, I developed experiences and curriculum that teach how to grow gardens, to take only what we need and use all we take, respect all life, be honest and caring towards others, treat resources as finite, take care not to pollute, reuse, reduce waste, and work towards a more sustainable future. Presently, as a science educator at Bishop Museum, I continue to teach and learn from children about sustainability and wise stewardship of our natural world. To help create this voyage, so encompassing of my values and wishes for the world, is an honor.

Hōkūle‘a and the living inspiration she carries with her everywhere is humbling. We are all so visibly a part of something much greater than ourselves. In the morning we participated in a procession of boats to honor the life of Roy Disney. We made our way out to the Diamond Head buoy, where Roy used to sail into Honolulu from California. As we traveled to the memorial place, Nainoa spoke of the importance of the Worldwide Voyage for young generations. He spoke in a soft voice about moments of wonder, and the magic young children are so connected with. As the ceremony began a long trail of boats began traveling in a circle. We threw flower petals into the center, filling the sea with color. Roy’s relatives waved to the canoe from their boat, their expressions telling the story of how important Hōkūle‘a’s presence was to them. As the boats all parted, whales emerged from the water distantly in several directions. Launching their massive bodies from the water, they remind us to occasionally relinquish ourselves to complete abandon.

Hōkūle‘a spreads without words the message that we are all one family. She connects people across culture, language, and geography, reminding us of the interconnectedness of our world and humanity’s kuleana to care for our home. She is a working example of a value system that is timeless and also so timely to the present, and our need to change our ways. We must shift our entire paradigm towards a sustainable future and re-cultivate our relationship with nature. Watching the waves, feeling subtle changes in the wind, and understanding the movement of the stars all realigns us with ourselves and nourishes our spirits. As we learn to grow food from the earth in order to feed ourselves, learn to heal ourselves with plants, and learn to guide ourselves by the stars, we become whole as a people.

Hōkūle‘a nourished me; she brought me to learn new knowledge, to listen closely to the elements of nature, and to experience working in cooperation with my crew. Throughout the voyage I was watchful of nature and restful inside. She also brought me whale song, a gift of wonder. I first heard them sing while diving in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, and I have not forgotten. I always wondered when they would come visit again.

Mahlao nui loa.

Karen Holman
Hōkūle‘a overnight sail 1/16/10

Photo of humpback whales in Hawaiian waters: NOAA
Photo of Hōkūle‘a Watch: Kanako Uchino
Photo of plastic polluting our oceans: Pathways of Altruism
Photo of Hōkūle‘a Silhouette: Monte Costa