Honolulu International Airport - 13 May 2013

A Lesson in Seafaring Navigation...

These days I seldom pass through Honolulu in my trips between the California and Maui, but on this occasion, I had a connection with a lot of time between the flights, so I took the time to walk between the Hawaiian Airlines inter-island and mainland terminals. It was fortunate that I did because I encountered this artwork on the walk between terminals. (Note: If you take the Wiki Wiki bus, you will miss this). It turns out to represent a Polynesian / Hawaiian navigational compass.

I did not know what the significance of the design was, but after some inquiry on the Hawaiian Astronomy Yahoo group these links with detailed information on Polynesian navigation came up:

• "Hawaiian Voyaging Traditions" -- (University of Hawaii)
• "Hawaiian Starlines" -- Imiloa Astronomy Center (Hilo)

It still amazes me that the Polynesians could navigate from one small island to another in a huge ocean. Many thanks to the group for enlightening me!