“Nature is telling us what to do. We go when nature allows us to go, when nature gives us permission to go. And I do think our ability to be sailing for 50 years was being disciplined to that.”
– PVS CEO and Pwo Navigator Nainoa Thompson on new changes to the Moananuiākea Voyage Sail Plan.

The Polynesian Voyaging Society today announced a revised schedule for the Western Pacific portion of the Moananuiākea Voyage in response to confirmed elevated weather risks caused by El Niño and our changing climate. The revision will add one year to the Moananuiākea Voyage.

Over the next 17 months, the canoes will visit Fiji (October 2026) to participate in the Pre-COP international ocean and climate meetings, which precede the annual UN Climate Change Conference (COP), then make return visits to Aotearoa, the Cook Islands and French Polynesia. Additional planned stops in 2027 will include American Sāmoa, Sāmoa, Tonga, the region of Melanesia and Micronesia. In early 2028, the canoes will depart Micronesia and head to the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea.