With the riskiest 7,000 miles or so of sailing and towing behind it, the Hokule‘a ended its Cape Town visit with 10 days of dry-dock repairs.

Then, on Christmas Eve 2015, the canoe embarked on the longest sailing leg in its history: a nearly 5,000-mile haul from South Africa to Natal, Brazil.

Despite the daunting length, the Polynesian Voyaging Society had looked forward to reaching the southern Atlantic Ocean — a hurricane-free area. Fog, overcast skies and small seas threw some challenges at the leg’s apprentice navigator, Kaleo Wong, but he successfully steered the canoe to the tiny, remote island of St. Helena 16 days into the journey.

After making the “left turn” away from Africa, “it seemed as if we were passing through a time portal into the Atlantic,” veteran Hokule‘a crew member Kimo Lyman wrote of the tricky weather on a blog posted to the voyage’s website. Then “the sailing became fast and easy.”

About three weeks later the canoe would reach South America for the first time.

A new Hokule‘a crew left Natal in mid-February for St. John, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. In the Caribbean the billionaire mogul and philanthropist Sir Richard Branson would host them at Moskito Island, his privately owned isle in the British Virgin Islands. Branson and Nainoa Thompson are members of the “Ocean Elders” — a collective of prominent scientists, artists and activists formed in 2010 to advocate for ocean conservation.

The canoe then headed to Havana, where crews met with local environmental advocates. Their visit coincided with a historic trip by then-President Barack Obama, a Hawaii native and the first U.S. president to visit the island nation in nearly 90 years as relations began to thaw between the two countries.