Twenty people set sail towards the Philippines’ Batan Island on a 12-meter wooden canoe this Monday to revive a maritime route the Tao Indigenous people are believed to have traveled more than 300 years ago.

The voyage aims to reconnect cultural ties between the Tao people of Orchid Island and the Ivatan people of the Batanes Islands in the northern Philippines.

Maraos, the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation chair, stated that the Tao and Ivatan are maritime peoples of the same ethnicity and have languages that are 80% mutually intelligible.

The maiden voyage was planned by the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation, Maraos said. He explained that tribal artisans used traditional methods to craft the canoe, piecing together 27 types of wood to build the plank boat without using a single nail. The construction took 18 months and cost NT$6 million (US$190,000).

Sixty crew members will take turns rowing by hand for over 100 nautical miles, crossing the Bashi Channel and Kuroshio Current. They are expected to arrive this Tuesday afternoon.