While the Tao’s voyage to the Batanes on the Ovayan has gotten most of media spotlights, a team of experts from Guam, Palau and Taiwan also built a traditional ship called Mata no Riyal (Eye of the Ocean). The boat, in the general configuration of Guam’s flying proa, has no metal nails, and is assembled the traditional way, with ropes and a type of Tao wooden nail called Vuvud.
Pangcah experts Cinaw and a Tao expert from Pongso no Tao gathered the materials, and together with Palauan expert Nick Halishluw and CHamorro expert Ronald Acfalle combined all different Austronesian ship building traditions to build the Mata no Riyal.
They are first sailing the Mata no Riyal around Taiwan, with future plans for longer voyages.
