His grandfather Pius Piailug, who later became known as Mau by the Hawai’ians, is from Satawal in the F.S.M. "Papa Mau" as he became known in voyaging community, was the grandmaster of traditional voyaging navigation, who taught the mainly Hawai'ian crew of voyaging canoe Hokule'a to sail from Hawai'i to Tahiti by traditional navigation in May 1976.  

The Okeanos Waa'Qab, the double hulled voyaging canoe, left Yap in the F.S.M. on 1 September 2022. The 15 metre by 6.2 metre canoe made a brief stop in Pohnpei, before it departed for this leg of the journey on 10 September.

The mixed international crew of seven include Micronesians, Cook Islanders, a Maori Aotearoa voyagers are in high spirits and taking guesses of their anticipated arrival date in Apia, Samoa. 

Aiga Folau extends a Fa'afetai tele to Transam Samoa for taking care of the arrival formalities for the Okeanos Waa'Qab.  

"Likewise we thank Samoa Ports Authority, Samoa Tourism Authority, our Government Ministries as well as Customs and Immigration for their prompt professional service to our enquiries," said Memea.

She added that Aiga Folau (Samoa Voyaging Society) encourages our people, especially youth groups to become involved and learn our ancestral traditional voyaging navigation. 

"It is a character building skill, that teaches us sustainable lifestyles," Memea said. "O se tomai fa'a'auro lenei a o tatou Tua'ā o aso anamua, aua ne’i tatou  fa'atamala ma manatu mama iai. 

"O folauga sa "tagata " ai Samoa.  O tagata Samoa, o tagata folau o le Pasefika. O se tasi lenei o measina a Samoa. Aua ne’i tatou faagaloina."

The Vaka Motu Okeanos Waa’Qab departed Pohnpei on the morning of 10 September after a three day stopover. Okeanos Waaqab and crew of five made a 17-day voyage from Yap to Pohnpei in the F.S.M. before stopping off for a crew change and to reprovision for the 3,000 nautical miles voyage to Rarotonga, which is estimated to take up to one month.  The vaka will make one stop in Samoa before making its final journey to Cook Islands.