Hometown
Samoa
Voyage(s)
Moananuiākea Voyage – Leg 3: Juneau to Ketchikan
Bio
Rex is an educator who first sailed on Hōkūleʻa in 2014, during the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage, from his home island of Samoa to Olohega/Swains Island. That’s all it took for Rex to then dedicate so many of his gifts and passions to Hōkūleʻa. “She means everything to me,” he says, “Hōkūleʻa is the va (space) that connects us to our past, future and especially the present. Our world is changing, and we are at the forefront of these changes. Changes that will protect our world and the future of all living things.”
Now on the Moananuiākea Voyage, Rex looks forward to visiting family and friends from across earth’s largest ocean, and “to reconnect to our ancestral homelands.” Voyaging perpetuates the “teachings of our teachers and peoples,” he says. “Some of our small island nations don’t have canoes and are somewhat disconnected from the ocean. The solution has always been there in front of our eyes. We build capacity within our communities and build canoes and teach our people how to care and love for them.”
When Rex is voyaging he says he misses “my partner and kids first and foremost, a freshwater shower, then ice cream.” And when he is not at sea, he misses sunrises and sunsets, which “are just beautiful,” he says, and “the clear night skies and the occasional squalls.”
Now on the Moananuiākea Voyage, Rex looks forward to visiting family and friends from across earth’s largest ocean, and “to reconnect to our ancestral homelands.” Voyaging perpetuates the “teachings of our teachers and peoples,” he says. “Some of our small island nations don’t have canoes and are somewhat disconnected from the ocean. The solution has always been there in front of our eyes. We build capacity within our communities and build canoes and teach our people how to care and love for them.”
When Rex is voyaging he says he misses “my partner and kids first and foremost, a freshwater shower, then ice cream.” And when he is not at sea, he misses sunrises and sunsets, which “are just beautiful,” he says, and “the clear night skies and the occasional squalls.”