Vaka is the Tongan word for small boat, obviously very close to the Hawaiian word, wa'a. However, vaka is not used for an outrigger canoe....it is call a popao. For the last 6 months I have been in a remote southern part of the already remote Ha'apai Group of islands in central Tonga. I am on Telekivava'u, 40 acres of pristine islolated beauty. I can see 8 or so islands, all but two unhinhabited. One of the two has a population of 50, and the other, Fonoi, has a population of 100, and is about 7 nm away. This is where Ma'ake is from.... he spends most of his time though, on this island, Telekivava'u, living rather traditionally in his coconut fale, fishing and makafeke, the catching of octopus, feke (he'e), using the traditional rat lure made of a cowrie shell.... all from his dug-out popao.

I got to get me one of these canoes! Very cool project built by Clive Armitage of Cobb, Georgia, USA
Check it out over at Human Powered Boats

Check this out.. "a documentation of our canoe building project in Mr. Crafts Industrial Arts and Crafts class at Kauai High School." It'll be fun to see how it surfs.