Iosepa...

The Polynesian sailing canoe, Iosepa (Joseph) came into Haleiwa

Harbor.  This canoe looks like the Hokule'a, but is smaller.  The Iosepa is 57 feet and the Hokule'a is 61 feet. Hokule'a is a double mast, Iosepa is single.  The biggest difference

is that the Iosepa is all wood, and Hokule'a is not. There aren't very many all wood canoes around

so it makes Iosepa more special. It was carved by hand in Laie.

Years ago we went down to Sand Island to see the Hokule'a being blessed after being in dry dock, hubby 

went on it.  61feet might seem big, but in the middle of the open ocean it's  small!

A friend of ours from our ward, Daniel Skaf, did a documentary about the Iosepa. 

You can read about  the documentary here.

The Isosepa was blessed and put into the water again in Laie in November 2011.

Here  are some photos from that day. This canoe has special meaning to so many people.

After dinner on Wednesday night, I took Travis and Marisa to see the Iosepa.

I didn't realize that the scouts, YM and YW from our ward would be there 

learning about it.  

We started talking to a guy standing there and it turns out that he was

Kawika Eskaran, one of the master carvers of Iosepa.

He has sailed also on the Hokule'a.

We were so honored to be talking to this man.  He told us a bit about the canoe

and then gave us a very short lesson on the art of navigating by the stars.

We were very lucky indeed. I even asked his permission before taking his

photo....a huge mahalo.

I felt like I could have talked to him all night and asked him a thousand
questions about both the Iosepa and Hokule'a.

The Iosepa is another example of the 

importance of keeping the Polynesian culture alive here in Hawaii.