Moananuiakea Voyaging Experience

Another relatively new experience at Four Seasons Resort Oahu is the Moananuiakea Voyaging Experience onboard a double-hulled canoe. Led by certified watermen, the exclusive experience was launched at the resort last winter to teach travelers about the significance of canoes in Hawaiian culture.

“We want this to be something you can’t find anywhere else,” said Rob Paulele of Royal Hawaiian Beach Services, the operator who runs the experience. “As much as our canoe is cultural in navigation and understanding the history, it’s also spiritual in that you must be grounded in your journey — and that’s what we do here. We try to ground families and bring them together through the canoe experience.”

My sons and I have paddled Hawaiian outrigger canoes many times, but this experience was completely different. While paddling was required to navigate the canoe out of the lagoon, once in the open ocean, we relied on the sail (the same type as on legendary voyaging canoe Hokulea) and took turns steering. Along the way, Paulele taught us about navigation using the sun, stars, winds, tides and even seabirds — and using the left hand with an outstretched thumb to calculate distance, just like in “Moana,” he noted.