STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Here's one of the very best things about this job - you get curious about something, you have license to go find out. Just call somebody and ask. Look it up, which is just what one of our colleagues did after seeing the movie "Moana 2." The Disney animated fantasy film refers to an ancient real-life skill known as wayfinding, the art of navigating the ocean without modern tools. Here's a scene from the first "Moana" featuring Dwyane Johnson's character, Maui, who is a shape-shifting demigod.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MOANA")
DWAYNE JOHNSON: (As Maui) It's called wayfinding, princess. And it's not just sails and knots. It's seeing where you're going in your mind - knowing where you are by knowing where you've been.
INSKEEP: Again, to be clear, there are no shape-shifting demigods so far as we know, but wayfinding is real. So we called up an expert.
LEHUA KAMALU: My name is Lehua Kamalu, and I work at the Polynesian Voyaging Society. We're based in Honolulu, Hawaii.
INSKEEP: Kamalu and her team do long-distance voyages, including the historic route from Hawaii to Tahiti - more than 2,000 miles - without GPS. She says wayfinding has driven her to relearn how to understand the natural world.
KAMALU: When we think about being in the middle of the ocean, almost everything that you look around and can see is going to be a clue. And you're constantly learning through experience, time on the water - learning how to sail your canoe, which way you're trying to go to put these pieces together.
INSKEEP: These clues include the water itself, where the waves are originating, where they're headed, the direction of the wind. And when navigating at night...
KAMALU: Understanding the motion of the stars across the sky, individual stars, where they rise and set on the horizon line are all points that actually help you to really provide a mental compass that you use.
INSKEEP: Kamalu learned about wayfinding at her Hawaiian language immersion school. She says the push for stronger education about Hawaiian history and culture has grown tremendously. The original "Moana" released in 2016 certainly helped. And Kamalu herself advised on that film, as well as "Moana 2."
KAMALU: I know I cried in the first one (laughter). I was like, I swear I'm not crying just 'cause I was - you know, got to be part of it. But it really, I think, did justice to a lot of pieces of the story and a lot of values that I think, you know, as islanders, we think about and wrestle with.
INSKEEP: And that includes wayfinding, which Kamalu says teaches us to remember there's magic out on the ocean.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOW FAR I'LL GO")
AULI'I CRAVALHO: (As Moana, singing) It calls me. And no one knows how far it goes. If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me, one day, I'll know... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
