Two, and often three, crew members had to constantly work together to steer the Hokule'a voyaging canoe over the entire 8 1/2-day trip to keep it on its 1,000-mile course to Palmyra Atoll.

With a northwest swell constantly hitting Hokule'a's starboard stern, the novice crew of 12 quickly learned to work as a team 24 hours a day, crew members said yesterday.

"We were averaging two to three people who had to steer together to keep us on course," said Eli Witt, 29, who was on his first open-ocean voyage aboard Hokule'a. "The success was that we really took care of each other as a crew. There was really good chemistry."

Hokule'a arrived at Palmyra on Thursday with a crew that included eight people who had sailed on Hokule'a before, but never on a deep-sea voyage. Five of the 12 crew members are in their 20s.

Nainoa Thompson, president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, knew that Hokule'a captain Bruce Blankenfeld would be busy with his young crew. So he asked the crew, in turn, to take care of Blankenfeld.

"It was a direct request from Nainoa," Witt said. "Because we're a young crew, Captain Blankenfeld had a big order. One of the requests from Nainoa was to watch out for him and take care of him."

The same sentiment quickly spread among all of the crew members, who gave each other massages and fetched food and drink for those who replaced them on watch.

"It was a constant system of knowing where the crew needed the support," Witt said. "We really did live as a family throughout the week."

'A MILLION STARS'

On the third day at sea, with cloudy skies blocking the stars, the crew relied on ocean swells to guide them to Palmyra.

"That's something our crew had never done before," Witt said.

And then the night before they arrived, the skies suddenly cleared.

"The sunset went on and on and on and then a million stars came out," Witt said. "The skies just became crystal clear."

As the water around Palmyra changed from deep blue to turquoise, brown boobies, frigates and other sea birds began escorting Hokule'a in.

Zachary Keenan, 26, was aboard Hokule'a's escort boat, Kama Hele, when the ocean depth suddenly rose to 25 to 30 feet.

"I could see a big difference immediately in the ocean," Keenan said. "The water is just crystal clear. Absolutely clear."

Yesterday, the crew got to play in the waters around Palmyra but Keenan was already looking forward to crewing Hokule'a back to Honolulu, perhaps leaving as early as Tuesday.

The world "is such a fragile and precious place," Keenan said. "It's frightening to see it all disappearing before our eyes. I believe Hokule'a has the power to inspire people to think about the impact we're having."