3. Islander Navigation Methods Pacific islanders didn’t have compasses, sextants, watches, or maps. They had no Loran stations, radar, or satellites. They used the stars, sun, and moon. They also used the wind, birds, and waves. This is called wayfinding. It is learned after many year of study under a master navigator. Pacific island navigators still use wayfinding today. They have many ways to tell the where their canoe is and where it is going. Where the sun and stars rise and set tells them where east and west are. It can also tell them where certain islands are. The Southern Cross is a group of stars shaped like a cross. These stars help tell which way is south. Some island boys are trained to be naviga- tors from the time they are very small. They learn where the stars are. They have to remember how the stars seem to move during the year. The young navigators learn which stars to follow to get to each island from any other island. One way to navigate is called dead reckoning. This means you start from one island and head straight in the direction of the island you want to reach. If you keep going straight, you should hit the island. The ocean cur- vents can keep you from going straight. Then you will miss the island. Storms may also throw you off your path, or course.Knowing where the canoe is can be more difficult. The navigator has to know his speed and direction. He has to figure how far the canoe has gone. The navigator has to watch currents. The navigator knows where the main regular currents are. He has to know how strong they are. A current will change the way a wave looks. While leaving an island, the navigator takes two back sightings. He lines up the canoe with certain places on land. The second back sighting is made later. It tells him how much the canoe has been moved and changed by the current. Then the navigator may have to change his Plan or course. He has to remember many things. If it is cloudy, the navigator can use waves to tell direction. Waves are made by wind. A long, steady wave is called a swell. During the trade wind season, the steady winds make swells. These swells go in a direction that does not change. The navigator feels the waves under the boat. He can tell which are the steady swells. Above the equator, they come from the northeast. Below the equator, they come from the southeast. The naviga- tor feels the rocking of the canoe as the waves pass under it. He feels how the swells hit the canoe. Then he knows in which direction he is heading.The navigator also knows about reefs under the sea. He knows a reef by its shape along its edge. When the navigator finds a reef, he can tell which reef it is. Then he knows where he is. Some reefs are many miles from land. They are important places in the sea to the naviga- tor. When you know where you are at sea, you can change your course. Seabirds also help navigators. These birds fish any- where from 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 km) from land, They rest on land. If a navigator sees such a bird, he knows land is close. At sunset, the birds head in a straight line for their island. Flat atoll reef islands can be seen from only about ten miles (16 km) away. The birds help a nav- gator find his way to an atoll. People on different island groups had other ways of navigating. Kiribati navigators could look at clouds above islands. They could see the islands’ shape, or image, in the clouds. Navigators from the Marshall Islands used the northeast swells to find their way. The sicady waves were changed by the long reefs of the Marshall atolls. The famous Marshall Island stick charts were really used only to train young navigators. Today, the old ways of navigating are still an impor- tant part of the culture of many islands. Skills are still passed on to new generations of navigators, In places like Hawai‘i and Tahiti, canoe building and sailing help creite pride in the culture. In the central Caroline Islands of Micronesia traditional navigators continue to cross hundreds of miles of open ocean in outrigger canoes. Men train to become master navigators in the Pwo ceremony. In the 1990s there were about 90 trained Navigators in the central Caroline Islands, with about 50 More starting to learn.