The crews of the Hokuleʻa and Hikianalia canoes have reached the halfway point of the Kealaikahiki Voyage, the Poylnesian Voyaging Society has announced.

It’s been 10 days since the crews left Hilo, and they have traveled an estimated 1,245 miles in the journey, the voyaging society said in a news release today. After sailing through the doldrums region and studying the latitude stars, the crews crossed Ka Piko o Wakea — also known as the equator — marking the halfway point of the voyage.

Ka Piko o Wakea is a transition point that takes crews from the northern to southern hemisphere. Voyagers offer gifts of cultural remembrance to voyagers, navigators and ancestors who sailed the Kealaikahiki Voyage before them. The crews conducted a cultural ceremony as they crossed Ka Piko o Wakea.

Hokuleʻa Navigator Lehua Kamalu said in the news release that the canoes are about 130 miles west of their intended course as a result of winds and currents. They are in the final section of their voyage, where they are preparing to head to the Tuamotu Archipelago and toward Tahiti.

The Kealaikahiki Voyage to Tahiti is meant to prepare crew members for the Moananuiakea Voyage, a five-year voyage of the Pacific Ocean set to start in 2023.