Hometown
Niu, Oʻahu
Voyage(s)
Moananuiākea Voyage – Leg 3: Juneau to Ketchikan, North Pacific Gyre
Bio
A majority of Kaiʻs life is dedicated to our ocean - on it, in it and for it. She provides program support for the Hawaiʻi Coral Reef Initiative, works on restoration and education of the loko iʻa for the Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center, is a community partner for NOAA’s Bay Watershed Education and Training Program, is a voyager and an apprentice navigator.
Kaiʻs first time on Hōkūleʻa was an overnight sail in 2021 with the Moananuiākea cohort - a group of students training and volunteering in preparation for the voyage. “Hōkūleʻa is a teacher, guiding star, and mama,” Kai says. “She represents the collective efforts of our kūpuna. Waʻa Hōkūleʻa brings together so many parts of our ever expanding community and connects me closest to my
ancestors.”
Kai was one of the apprentice navigators on Hōkūleʻaʻs voyage to Papahānaumokuakea in 2021, sailed from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi in 2022 and now joins the Moananuiākea voyage, for which she says “I am inspired and honored to meet and create relationships across Moananuiākea with others who, I know, love their kūpuna and are honoring them with their own practice.” She loves how voyaging humbles and shapes one’s decisions and ultimately would like to see the aloha in voyaging shape the world: “I would like to see more of us, together, heal our relationships with one another and the natural world. A world in which we are a small part of but have big decisions to make.”
While at sea, Kai says she misses her home, taking care of her yard, and “I crave surfing, especially by my house with my friends.”
Kaiʻs first time on Hōkūleʻa was an overnight sail in 2021 with the Moananuiākea cohort - a group of students training and volunteering in preparation for the voyage. “Hōkūleʻa is a teacher, guiding star, and mama,” Kai says. “She represents the collective efforts of our kūpuna. Waʻa Hōkūleʻa brings together so many parts of our ever expanding community and connects me closest to my
ancestors.”
Kai was one of the apprentice navigators on Hōkūleʻaʻs voyage to Papahānaumokuakea in 2021, sailed from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi in 2022 and now joins the Moananuiākea voyage, for which she says “I am inspired and honored to meet and create relationships across Moananuiākea with others who, I know, love their kūpuna and are honoring them with their own practice.” She loves how voyaging humbles and shapes one’s decisions and ultimately would like to see the aloha in voyaging shape the world: “I would like to see more of us, together, heal our relationships with one another and the natural world. A world in which we are a small part of but have big decisions to make.”
While at sea, Kai says she misses her home, taking care of her yard, and “I crave surfing, especially by my house with my friends.”