Hometown
Kailua, Oʻahu
Voyage(s)
Moananuiākea Voyage – Leg 14 | Hikianalia: Tahiti to Rarotonga
Bio
Haunani Kāne was a high school student when she first stepped on Hōkūleʻa. She was part of a PVS youth program called Kapu Nā Keiki. The group was on Molokaʻi in 2004, Hōkūleʻa was there and Haunani was helping with anchorwatch. She says she vividly remembers they were “learning the night sky with Kaʻiulani Murphy.” She says the next day one of her favorite photos was taken. It was with the 1976 crew.
Haunani has voyaged on Hōkūleʻa many times since then and has helped to navigate her to places like Nihoa in Papahānaumokuākea and Tahiti. Haunani is a professor in the Earth Sciences Department at U.H. Mānoa and says “Hōkūleʻa has given me my heroes, my teachers, role models and an ʻohana. It is the inspiration for my research as a scientist, and the foundation of every class that I teach.”
Haunani says she wants to be a part of the Moananuiākea Voyage "because I want to be a part of the movement to perpetuate voyaging and navigation. I want to continue to learn with ʻohana waʻa and share what we learn with the island communities that we visit and with our communities and students at home.”
She has a vision of what voyaging as a whole will accomplish: “It would be beautiful if every island child knew the story of how their people came to their home islands. For every child to know the name of the canoes and the navigators that they come from. In life, like any voyage on the canoe, if we know where we come from we will never be lost and we can more clearly navigate our future.”
When Haunani is voyaging, she says she misses “my kids, my ʻohana, and surfing,” and she craves “ice cream, French fries and a cheeseburger.”
Haunani has voyaged on Hōkūleʻa many times since then and has helped to navigate her to places like Nihoa in Papahānaumokuākea and Tahiti. Haunani is a professor in the Earth Sciences Department at U.H. Mānoa and says “Hōkūleʻa has given me my heroes, my teachers, role models and an ʻohana. It is the inspiration for my research as a scientist, and the foundation of every class that I teach.”
Haunani says she wants to be a part of the Moananuiākea Voyage "because I want to be a part of the movement to perpetuate voyaging and navigation. I want to continue to learn with ʻohana waʻa and share what we learn with the island communities that we visit and with our communities and students at home.”
She has a vision of what voyaging as a whole will accomplish: “It would be beautiful if every island child knew the story of how their people came to their home islands. For every child to know the name of the canoes and the navigators that they come from. In life, like any voyage on the canoe, if we know where we come from we will never be lost and we can more clearly navigate our future.”
When Haunani is voyaging, she says she misses “my kids, my ʻohana, and surfing,” and she craves “ice cream, French fries and a cheeseburger.”