Crew members of the Hokule‘a and Hikianalia voyaging canoes conducted the first marine survey of the Lalo, or French Frigate Shoals, area since Hurricane Walaka hit in 2018. The crew arrived at Lalo on Wednesday.

The underwater survey is being conducted by the crew in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Crew members found that since Hurricane Walaka, many large table corals are no longer in the area due to the hurricane’s destruction. Instead, the crew found many small, fast-growing coral polyps that grow to build the larger table corals.

“When we leave nature alone, it will restore itself, and that’s really exciting to us,” said pwo navigator Nainoa Thompson in a news release Wednesday.

Due to weather conditions, the canoes are expected to depart Lalo tonight and head back to Nihoa, continuing their “Navigating the Kupuna Islands” voyage. The voyage is the second deep-sea training sail preparing crew members for the Moana­nuiakea Voyage, a 42-month, 41,000-mile journey around the Pacific that will reach 46 countries and archipelagoes, almost 100 Indigenous territories and 345 ports.