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COURTESY POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY
The voyaging canoes Hokule'a and Hikianalia left Tonga on their way to New Zealand earlier this week.
POLYNESIAN VOYAGING SOCIETY
The voyaging canoes Hokule'a and Hikianalia were given a warm sendoff when they left Tonga for New Zealand Monday.
Hokule’a and Hikianalia are on the next leg of their around-the-world voyage, sailing to New Zealand after leaving Tonga.
The canoes hope to make landfall in Aotearoa, New Zealand in the middle of next month.
The crews of the voyaging canoes were given a warm send off from Nukualofa in Tonga on Monday, complete with an exchanging of gifts between crew members and government officials, according to the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
The crews spent the last several days in the capital city and major port where they provided educational outreach programs to students and the public.
Hokule’a first visited New Zealand in 1985.
The storied double-hulled voyaging canoe left the Big Island May 30 on a three-year odyssey around the world.
During the 36-month voyage the Hoku-le’a and Hikianalia, are expected to sail more than 50,000 miles across three oceans, leaving the Pacific for the first time in Hoku-lea’s 39-year history.
