Hawaiian Navigation

The Hawaiians used many natural tools to navigate. For instance, the Hawaiians used the stars, ocean swells, winds, bird patterns, clouds, the moon and the sun. Canis Major is one of the most important constellations used in navigating. Sirius is the brightest star. You can find Sirius in Canis Major. When traveling to Tahiti, Sirius was a very important star because it was directly over Tahiti. When the navigator saw clouds with a haze of green, he knew they were probably close to land. Mostly because it could be an island's vegetation. If the clouds had a haze of blue, they could be near a lagoon.

The sun always rises in the East and sets in the West. That helped the navigators with direction. If the navigators were heading south then the sun would be rising in the left. If they were heading north the sun would rise on the right.

The moon was the crew's calendar. There were two types of calendars. Everyday the size and shape of the moon would change. That would tell them what day it was. The other kind of calendar was a counting rope. After every day passed, the crew would tie a knot on the rope. They would tie those knots to see how many days they have been at sea.

Ocean swells are just below the waves. They help the navigators to steer. The ocean swells come in patterns because of wind and storm systems. On cloudy days and overcast nights, the navigators used ocean swell directions to keep on course.

The wind was important,too. It helped hurry the voyage. The navigator feels the wind on his face. Depending on how much the wind fills the sails, he changes his course direction. The navigator is careful to watch for storms by looking out for a big shift in the wind direction and air temperature.

The navigator knew which birds flew far out to sea and which birds stayed by land. Even when the navigator could not see through the fog, he could tell how far away from land they were by listening to the sounds of the birds. One type of bird is the Golden Plover or the Kolea. During the daytime the Kolea comes out to rest on the sea and afterwards, it flies up north to its homeland. The Hawaiians followed this bird because every night it flies north to where it lives and they knew that it wasn't a water bird.