My father taught me that the sea is full of signs. Let's say we leave on a voyage at sunset. At midnight the navigator listens for chirping birds. Yo… - Mau Piailug

Now you know all there is to know. But it will be twenty years before you see.

In the old days, the navigators used magic to make themselves strong, but now, nothing; they just pray. Before they leave and at sea, they pray. But I, I make myself strong by thinking—just by thinking! I make myself strong because I despise cowardice. Too many men are afraid of the sea. But I am a navigator.

The people on my island, they put my name as Mau ["strong"] because when I was young I no like stay long time on the land. When I come from the ocean, two or three days, then I go back again. Even when the storm is come, I still stay out on the ocean. That's why my people they call me Mau.