Hawaiian Navigator Chad Kalepa Baybayan to give Keynote Speech at 2012 Acadia Night Sky Festival

Aug. 15, 2012 - PRLog -- Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce  
CONTACT: Melissa Walls
TEL: 207-404-2921 ext. 802
E-MAIL: mwalls@barharborinfo.com
WEB: www.acadianightskyfestival.org

BAR HARBOR, Maine- Chad Kalepa Baybayan, Associate Director and Navigator in Residence at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii and Captain and Navigator of the Hawaiian deep-sea voyaging canoes Hōkūle’a, Hawai’iloa, and Hōkūalaka’I, will give two presentations during the 2012 Acadia Night Sky Festival.  

Mr. Baybayan will kick off the 2012 festival with a presentation on deep sea voyaging, exploration and oceanic wayfinding titled, “He Lani Ko Luna, He Honua Ko Lalo; Sky Above, Earth Below.” Mr. Baybayan will discuss the indigenous systems of navigation at sea and the effort to revitalize this once dynamic maritime culture. The presentation is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 13 at the Jackson Laboratory.

The following evening, Mr. Baybayan will share Hawaiian beliefs on how the universe came into existence on the Night Sky Boat Cruise aboard Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company’s Friendship Five. John Bear Mitchell, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribal historian and University of Maine professor, will share the native story of how the universe and world came into existence. John Bear will be representing the Abbe Museum in downtown Bar Harbor, which is dedicated to preserving Maine Native American history.  For more information about the Night Sky Boat Cruise or to reserve tickets, call 207-288-2386.

The Acadia Night Sky Festival is a community celebration to promote the protection and enjoyment of Downeast & Acadia’s stellar night sky as a valuable natural resource through education, science and the arts. For a complete list of events happening throughout Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island and the Schoodic Peninsula, September 13-17, visit www.acadianightskyfestival.org.