The Hokule’a arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, early Thursday morning — marking the halfway point of its worldwide voyage.

The crew will spend the next week in Cape Town, with a formal arrival ceremony planned for this weekend. A delegation of about 60 Hawaii educators, students and families will join the crew for activities throughout the week, including canoe tours and school visits.

The Hokule’a will go into dry dock for two weeks after the visit to Cape Town, then depart across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time en route to South America.

The double-hull voyaging canoe left Hawaii in May 2014 on an 18,000-mile trek across the Pacific and Indian oceans. It is expected to return home in 2017.

For up-to-date information on the voyage, visit hokulea.com/africa and view the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s live tracking map at hokulea.com/track-the-voyage.