Hohoʻi ne

Kaulana E Ka Holo Makani Olu

~

Aloha, E kalamai au, I have been on a long and tumultuous and beautiful huakaʻi.

These past few months have baptized me into an entirely new pool of voyaging that I previously allotted no perspective.

Let me first introduce this entry by regaling the recent events.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to go out and experience the ocean in a more intimate and intense relationship.

Exposing what profound solidarity voyaging truly encompasses of the conscious mind.

Foremost, my biggest gratuity belongs to Marimed Careers Exploration program (MCE) in Kaneohe, Oʻahu, Hi. Their Captains and staff work tirelessly to provide this fast-paced, educational program to ALL ages at no cost to most Hawaiʻi residents. If you are interested or know of anyone looking for a place to belong, a new beginning, or something different; if you want and can commit to a program with substance, discipline, focus, and results, there is absolutely no better course more suited to transforming lives. There are no other programs like this in Hawaiʻi or the US; MCE is uniquely based, widely resourceful, and rich in value. I hope I can inspire others to make the most of this program. #Shoutout

In July 2018, I was accepted into the MCE program. A 3-week course with a 1-week commencement voyage around the Hawaiian islands on a 100ft tall ship, SSV Makani Olu. The course was not rigorous on outright knowledge (most of which you could study in this blog) but on character development. We work on team building, crew bonding, sharing our thoughts, honestly trusting each other wholeheartedly and then some.

Our training and studying made us a unit, but the mindset and the motivation made us cohesive. The first day of the launch; it was the simultaneous metaphorical launching of an entirely conceptual, mental voyage for each of us. As we sailed away from land, the transformative process begins as we shift from what we believe is our home by widening our mind's eye to where and what home really means.

This is an inherently sacred, traditional cultural process not only of Hawaiians but of all peoples who sail. "The Heroes journey" in literature, as it is referred to, is the epic arc of character development which brings our protagonist on a journey to surpass trials that previously were unsurmountable.


Unabashedly, the Captain and officers that trained us were certain from the beginning about the one and only very crucial lesson that comes less from their guidance and moreso depends on our investment in the program. Very smply put:

"If you put your heart into it, you will become a family"

I find that very true of any voyage, and very true of my experience at Marimed.

What I had majorly lacked to understand about the fundamentals in sailing; at work and at home and with friends or peers we work closely with and grow strong bonds with them, in a crew that requires your exchange of life immediately at port is so ingrained in you during your voyage that the crew around you becomes as vital as the organs you depend on to live.

No other bond is as immediate, urgent, expected, and lasting as the relationship and dynamic of a crew.

This was my biggest and most humbling lesson I had the priviledge to learn. Out on the water, past the horizons, out of view of civilization and etched into a realm between what you knew as life on land and the consistent unpredictability of each wave that you encounter, time no longer applies. What we shared is permanently reserved in the charter, forever on the sea. I know now that every story, every voyage is there right now, happening all at once. If you ever meet a sailor, a voyager, a wayfinder, you dont hear their stories, you feel their memories.

Iʻm still there, out on the water, my blood is bouyant, my mind is teetering in the wind, my soul billows against the heading. Iʻm still there and I only want to return.

Aloha e, aloha e, aloha e,

until we meet again