In this article for AskNature.org, Hōkūleʻa captain and navigator Lehua Kamalu describes the natural elements – including animals, wave patterns, and celestial bodies – experienced along Kealaikahiki (Road to Tahiti). “It’s as much of a paved highway as you can possibly think of on the ocean, where the weather comes together to allow you just enough time, just enough space, to make the journey successfully. And we think about all the natural elements––birds and their flight patterns, fish and marine mammal populations that have been known in the same place for generations––all of those elements contribute to this being an actual sea road. All the right pieces are here to show you where to go.”   

AskNature is a project of the Biomimicry Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the practice of looking to nature for inspiration to solve design problems in a regenerative way.