MEDIA RELEASE

Kālepa Baybayan

Hilo, Hawai‘i – ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center presents the spring Wayfinding Talk on Friday, March 7, 2014. This program will feature Pwo Navigator Kālepa Baybayan’s talk “He Lani Ko Luna, He Honua Ko Lalo, Sky Above, Earth Below” starting at 7 p.m. The 2013-14 Wayfinding Talks are being sponsored through the generous support of Matson.

Join this presentation by Baybayan, on the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s Worldwide Voyage and its mission to “Mālama Honua,” caring for the Earth project. As they prepare to sail throughout the South Pacific, come learn how they will navigate without the North Star to guide them. His talk will also cover deep sea voyaging, exploration, and oceanic wayfinding, the indigenous system of orientation and navigation at sea.

“The art of wayfinding includes a vast knowledge of astronomy, ocean sciences, meteorology, environmental sciences, and cultural perspectives, integrated in an understanding of how the environment around you works,” states Baybayan, adding “studying these disciplines helps to organize my surroundings in the open ocean.”

This presentation will feature ʻImiloa’s world-class planetarium, as Kālepa will orientate the audience to the Oceanic night sky.

Chad Kālepa Baybayan is fluent in the Hawaiian language and is captain and navigator of the Hawaiian deep-sea voyaging canoes Hōkūle‘a, Hawai‘iloa, and Hōkūalaka‘i. He has been an active participant in the Polynesian voyaging renaissance since 1975 and has sailed on all major voyages of the Hōkūle‘a and Hawai‘iloa throughout the South Pacific and the Pacific Rim. Baybayan was the past Site Director of Honuakai, the Exploration Sciences Division of the ‘Aha Pūnana Leo, a program that teaches the Hawaiian Language to participants who serve as crew aboard the Hōkūalaka‘i. He currently serves as the Navigator in Residence at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i, managing the center’s content, developing wayfinding activities, and curriculum materials. In 2007, Baybayan and four other Hawaiian men were initiated into the order of Pwo, a two thousand year-old society of traditional deep-sea navigators by their teacher, Master Navigator Mau Piailug on the Carolinian island of Satawal.

The Center would like to thank Matson for its exclusive sponsorship of the 2013-14 Wayfinding Talks.

The Friday night program time is 7:00 p.m., with ticketing at $10 for non-members and $8 for members (member level discounts apply.) Tickets may be pre-purchased at the ‘Imiloa front desk or by phone, using Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or JCB, by calling (808) 969-9703 during regular business hours. Tickets are non-refundable.

‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i is located at 600 ‘Imiloa Place in Hilo, off Komohana and Nowelo Streets at the UH-Hilo Science and Technology Park. For more information, go to www.imiloahawaii.org, or call (808) 969-9700.