Atuona, Hiva Oa--Hokule'a plans to leave Atuona for Mangareva tomorrow morning at first light. It should take about 18 days to get there, with a stop at Pitcairn.
Apprentice navigators Moana Doi and Catherine Fuller will hold a course of SE by E for the first segment of the voyage (660 miles). They will backsight on the islands of Hiva Oa and Motane to hold the course as long as land can be seen,lining up Feki Point between Atuona Bay and Tahauku Harbor with the peak of Feani (3300 ft.) above Atuona; then the north end of Motane island and Feani once the canoe passes Motane. The rising sun will also serve as a bearing for the navigators as they depart.
The sail plan differs from the plan developed before the crew left Hawai'i. Because of light winds and a schedule that requires the canoe to reach Mangareva (via Pitcairn island) by the first week of September to prepare for the push to Rapa Nui, captain / navigator Chad Baybayan decided that instead of sailing NE by E to gain easting, the canoe will be towed SE by E into the trade winds to eliminate about 500 miles of sailing. The tow boat Kamahele will be guided without instruments from the canoe by Doi and Fuller.
At about 16 degrees S and 130 degrees W, the canoe will break the tow and head S by E for Pitcairn, about 540 miles away. At the latitude of Pitcairn (25 degrees S), the canoe will begin a search pattern, tacking SW and NW in 30 mile stints to look for the island. This second segment will be navigated by Baybayan.
Once Pitcairn has been sighted (whether or not the canoe anchors and visits Pitcairn depends on sea conditions), the canoe will head WNW for Mangareva, about 300 miles away. This last portion will be navigated by newly appointed student of navigation Aldon Kim. (A map of the new course line for Mangareva will appear at the PVS website in about a week.)
The canoe is fully loaded and prepared for departure. Yesterday the crew took a break from work to go to Puamau, on the NE coast of Hiva Oa, where the famous me'ae (heiau) of Ipona is located. Puamau mayor Bernard Heitaa gave us a tour of the grounds, which included the largest stone tiki in French Polynesia; a large, flat fish-like stone; sacrificial stone;, and a flat-topped stone for preparing the inks for traditional tatoos--all beneath towering breadfruit trees and a gigantic stone cliff. Heitaa said that the people of Puamau believe that the people of Rapa Nui migrated there from this valley. He said that his family was not originally from Puamau, but came from a more remote valley that was abandoned when the young people left for places such a Puamau and Atuona.
The drive from Atuona to Puamau was over an unpaved proto-road, dug out and carved into the rugged Marquesan mountains and cliffs by the machines of Caterpillar, Case, Komatsu, Hyundai, Volvo, and Mercedes. Toyota 4-wheel drives rule out there. The 12-mile drive took about 3 hours. The eventual paved road will no doubt be another victory for the multinationals, determined to spread modern consumer culture into one of the wildest, remotest terrains on the planet.
Last night in Atuona, a Marquesan dance group called Te Pua o Feani ("The flower of Feani peak"),under the leadership of Patrice Kaimuko, hosted the crews of Hokule'a and Kamahele for dinner and performed a revived form of Marquesan dance. The dances were based on traditional Marquesan stories, such as Makaianui (a giant pig) and the creation of Marquesas by a man named Oatea (Hawaiian: Wakea) and and a woman named Atanua.