Watch Captain/Crew
Kaina Holomalia is from Nānākuli and Wai‘anae, O‘ahu. Kaina is currently attending Honolulu Community College. He is a student in the Marine Education Training Center, studying boat building and small vessel fabrication. Kaina has previously worked dry dock and construction, in addition to making surfing and three-man canoes.
“I’ve been involved with Höküle’a since 2001. I attended the new Ocean Learning Academy led by Nainoa Thompson and have stayed involved with Hōkūle’a ever since. My longest voyage was in 2007 from Yap to Okinawa. The Palmyra voyage is a new step for me toward becoming a captain. I want to see the wildlife of Palmyra and see what a healthy reef system looks like, compare it to what we have here, and understand what can be done to improve our reefs here. More importantly, I want to keep Hōkūle’a sailing. These may be modern times, but we need to remember our culture.”
“I want the worldwide voyage to open others’ eyes to how we can move forward in the modern days and not forget about where we came from; the past, our ancestors. Hawaiians have been navigating for centuries. So have many other cultures. My hope for this worldwide voyage is to bring people closer together.”