To travel with Jacqueline Windh is to see the Pacific with new eyes. A geologist, author, paddler, and expedition lecturer with Swan Hellenic, she shares not just knowledge but a way of seeing – where islands are alive, the ocean is a connector, and travel becomes something more profound. From solo kayak journeys to standing on the bow of a ship, reading the shape of volcanic islands, Jacqueline has dedicated her life to understanding the sea and the cultures that depend on it. Here, she reflects on wayfinding, oral traditions, and the wonder of travel.
Quote: "The ocean connects rather than divides."
Hi Jacqueline! What first sparked your fascination with the ocean as a ‘highway’ rather than a barrier?
Jacqueline: That’s something I’ve been thinking about for decades. First, I’m genetically 100% Viking. I didn’t really think much about my Viking heritage until I was a young adult living on Vancouver Island. I lived alone on a small island up an inlet and commuted by kayak. With steep, forested topography and countless inlets and islands, a kayak or small boat was the only way to get around – you couldn’t go far on land. I realized that the ocean connects rather than divides – which is how my ancestors, and many Indigenous peoples, traveled in the past, and how many still do. It’s just that our culture has focused more on cars and roads in recent times and has lost sight of that.
You describe yourself as someone who travels deep rather than wide. What is it about the South Pacific that continues to call you back?
Jacqueline: I definitely travel deep. I’d rather continue my learning by returning to places where I already have a connection than wander somewhere new as a tourist. I keep going back to the Pacific Northwest (especially Vancouver Island, my home), Patagonia, and the South Pacific. They seem different, but they actually have a lot in common – especially in terms of the first inhabitants, the Indigenous peoples, who made their homes on the sea, traveling in canoes. The South Pacific is enchanting – partly for its iconic sand beaches, coconut palms, and turquoise lagoons, but also for the richness and depth of its maritime culture, with paddlers, sailors, and navigators from cultures that are still largely intact, maintaining their knowledge and practicing their traditions.
You lecture on traditional wayfinding – what are some of the most remarkable techniques you’ve studied?
Jacqueline: The biggest lesson isn’t a single technique but starting to understand what "worldview" really means. Our thinking is constrained by the culture we’re raised in, so we assume, "that’s just how things are." Navigation and wayfinding make this clear. Our culture is hung up on maps – scaled drawings seen from above. Traditional Pacific navigators never used maps, and some Europeans assumed they must be backward and couldn’t know where they were. In fact, they had other ways of knowing how to travel and of explaining directions to people who hadn’t been there – a different language and way of thinking from what our culture is used to.
How do you think Swan Hellenic guests will feel when they realize just how advanced these early paddling cultures were?
Jacqueline: I think guests will be surprised and filled with wonder as they realize what these early paddling cultures did – and still do. Just this week, as we speak, the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s canoe Hōkūleʻa arrived in the Cook Islands, halfway through a five-year voyage around the Pacific using traditional canoe construction and navigation techniques. I love giving my presentations and watching that sense of wonder as guests begin to look beyond their own worldview and comprehend what other peoples have achieved.
Living knowledge at sea
As a paddler yourself, how does your hands-on experience shape your understanding of ancient voyaging?
Jacqueline: I’ve paddled sea kayaks for 35 years, including on several long, committed solo journeys. Traveling so close to the sea – especially alone for extended periods – makes you observe patterns: what certain clouds tell you, how wind and waves affect your boat and course. It has really made me understand first-hand how much knowledge you gain simply by being at sea, knowledge you could never get from books or even from someone trying to explain it.
Why is it so difficult to know how traditional canoes were first built in Melanesia?
Well, this is a very interesting question. When we are talking about cultures that existed many thousands of years ago, we cannot expect that their archaeological artifacts necessarily remain to this day – especially in tropical environments! We often refer to these peoples as “stone age,” but stone is simply the only material that persists in the archaeological record for millennia. Any wood or plant fibers used for canoe hulls, rope, or sails have long since degraded. “Stone age” people did not only use stone – it is just hard for us to figure out what other materials they used, because most have rotted away. However, linguistic studies – for example, looking at common root words for canoe parts and sailing techniques – give us some idea about the timing of maritime innovations. Ancestors of the Melanesians were already colonizing islands 30,000 years ago or earlier. Some archaeologists assume they did this with bamboo rafts. Personally, I think these early peoples had much more advanced sailing technologies – and recent evidence suggests they did indeed have the ability to make rope and possibly sails. But we cannot be certain, because organic materials are rarely preserved.
How did Polynesian canoe technology differ from earlier traditions?
We do know that the Austronesians – ancestors of the Polynesians – began voyaging out from Taiwan about 5,000 years ago, most likely already using double-hull canoe technology. At some point, they switched from “shunting” canoes – symmetrical boats that could be reversed when sailing upwind – to “tacking” boats, like most sailboats today, where the bow is fixed and always points upwind when sailing upwind. That transition, from shunting to tacking canoes, was one of the crucial technological developments that allowed the ancestral Polynesians to colonize the massive region we now call the “Polynesian triangle” – from Hawai‘i in the north, to Rapa Nui/Easter Island in the east, to Aotearoa/New Zealand in the south – in just a few centuries. What a remarkable accomplishment! No other culture in human history has achieved anything quite like it.
Are there ways for Swan Hellenic guests to observe or experience modern versions of these techniques during the voyage?
Absolutely! I remember the first time I visited Papua New Guinea and other parts of Melanesia. I had always thought of Polynesia as the epicenter of outrigger canoe technology, but on that first visit to PNG I was astonished to find that outrigger canoe technology was not only a significant part of their culture – it still is! For most of us, if we need a family vehicle, we go to a car dealership. But in these communities, they build their own vehicles – their outrigger canoes. On our upcoming journey we will visit so many places – from Vanuatu to the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Philippines – where traditional canoeing is still part of the living culture. And it has been this way since tens of thousands of years before the rise of cultures such as the Phoenicians, or those of ancient Egypt or Greece. The timescale is simply mind-boggling.
What role did women play in early ocean exploration?
Jacqueline: It can be hard to know exactly what the "role" of women was on these voyages – most of those long voyages of colonization took place a thousand or more years ago. However, it is clear that they were there, in the canoes. These were intentional voyages of colonization, not just fishermen blown out to sea who happened to arrive on new islands. Women were on board – probably children, too – and they carried food supplies to intentionally establish new colonies, such as chickens, pigs, coconuts, and taro. It is hard to know exactly what their roles were – but they were probably much more than idle passengers!
Connecting with the past
Which parts of the cruise itinerary best reflect the legacy of oceanic navigation? And why?
I love the cultures of Papua New Guinea, especially the Bismarck Archipelago and the island of New Britain. The traditions here have remained remarkably constant for tens of thousands of years. Kimbe Bay, which we visit on our Wild Eden of Papua New Guinea voyage, is especially significant. Located on the northern coast of New Britain, it shows evidence of human occupation dating back 20,000 to possibly 40,000 years. Imagine that – 35,000 years before the pyramids and 30,000 years before agriculture! Yet these ancient people were already building boats and developing navigation. We have so much to learn, and it’s a privilege to visit these regions and meet the descendants of such innovative and wise navigators.
How do language and oral tradition play a role in passing down wayfinding techniques?
Jacqueline: From a Western cultural perspective, it can be hard to believe in the veracity of knowledge in a non-literate, oral culture. We depend on looking things up – once in books, now on phones – which I think of as outsourcing our brains. We don’t truly know the thing or the fact, only where to find it. Oral tradition, by contrast, requires both speaker and listener to understand and remember. I strongly recommend David Lewis’s book We, the Navigators. In the 1960s and 1970s he found some of the last Pacific navigators trained in the traditional way. Some could navigate his boat to places they had never visited, guided by knowledge passed down from their fathers or grandfathers.
You speak several languages, and are learning Polynesian. How does being able to speak with locals – even a few words – transform the nature of the exchange?
Jacqueline: I speak three languages, but I can’t honestly say I speak Polynesian. However, I’m learning lots of Polynesian words, which enriches the experience in many ways. The language shifts across Polynesia – same language, different sounds. For example, a house is whare in Aotearoa/New Zealand, fare in Tahiti, hare in Rapa Nui/Easter Island, and hale in Hawai‘i. Noticing those patterns helps me understand both connections and distinctions, and gives me ways to share them with guests. Using local words also builds rapport with communities and often sparks conversations. A simple “thank you” always brings a smile.
How can guests connect with the sense of awe that ancient mariners must have felt arriving at new shores?
Jacqueline: I think the best way to feel that awe of arriving at a new shore is when we are far from land, standing on deck. For many guests, it is the first time they have ever had a 360° view with absolutely no land in sight. It is awesome to be in a modern ship, so far from any visible land. Even more awesome is to imagine families traveling in tiny canoes, doing the same for days or weeks on end – and to picture what they must have felt when land suddenly appeared on the horizon.