Waimea Country School’s fourth- and fifth-grade students recently visited the Makalii, the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s third voyaging canoe, as part of their history and social studies class. Students explored the vessel and talked to Master Navigators Shorty Bertelmann and Chadd Paishon about their experiences aboard the Makalii and its ocean voyages.
Waimea Country School’s fourth- and fifth-grade students recently visited the Makalii, the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s third voyaging canoe, as part of their history and social studies class. Students explored the vessel and talked to Master Navigators Shorty Bertelmann and Chadd Paishon about their experiences aboard the Makalii and its ocean voyages.
The fourth- and fifth-grade curriculum includes Polynesian migration and voyaging, with a focus on how Hawaii was first settled and how the Polynesian Voyaging Society and the Hokulea helped to teach people about that settlement.
Student Nina Gonzales summarized what the students learned while visiting the Makalii. “I learned how they got food, how they would survive when there was a storm, and how they would navigate.”
Student Ethan Levine was excited to learn that the Makalii was built in Waimea, not far from his school in the quonset hut on Parker Ranch.
Mia Horton said, “The boat that we were on actually sailed to Tahiti and back with no instruments. I saw how hard it would be to stay on the Makalii for a month to go to Tahiti and back, because you’d probably get seasick and you would have to stay away from your pets and family … but it would still be fun to sail on it for a day.”