How were the Polynesians able to navigate hundreds of kilometers of open ocean in a time when staying near the coast was the norm?

by Sogeking94

How were the Polynesians able to navigate between islands? Was there a network of trade between distant settlements or did they largely abandon venturing far out once they settled on an island?

mikedash

There have been some good answers on this topic before. While you're waiting for a direct response to your question, you might like to check out the following:

There are huge gaps between islands in the Pacific, what methods did the Polynesians/Islanders use to discover them and to stay on course in a trip between two islands they already knew existed? Do we know how many/what percentage were lost at sea?

Or this link, which leads to several earlier discussions about Polynesian voyaging:

How did Hawaiian natives GET to Hawaii in the first place?