and 19-year-old son, he set out for the Pacific again to study traditional navigation techniques. While there, he was welcomed into the cultures of various Pacific Islanders such as Hipour, who taught him their navigational lore, heretofore largely unrecognized by those outside Polynesia. Lewis chronicled this voyage and research in various articles and in his books We, the Navigators and The Voyaging Stars. He was also one of the first academics to document te lapa, an unexplained light phenomenon used by Polynesians to navigate. David Lewis also sought out navigators of the Caroline Islands, Santa Cruz Islands and Tonga to confirm that traditional navigation techniques had been retained by navigators from Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia. The voyages of David Lewis on his ketch Isbjorn included: Tevake navigating between the Santa Cruz Islands; and Hipour of Puluwat navigating in the Caroline Islands; and also conversations with Fe’iloakitau Kaho, Ve’ehala and Kaloni Kienga from Tonga; Temi Rewi of Beru and Iotiabata Ata of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands; and Yaleilei of Satawal in the Caroline Islands. Lewis' voyages and resulting books gave inspiration to the revival in traditional Polynesian canoe building and voyaging. In 1976, Lewis joined Polynesian Voyaging Society's first experimental voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti on Hokule'a. The team successfully navigated using traditional methods to Tahiti. Lewis departed from Hokule'a in Tahiti and went on to work in his own research. Along with Dr. Marianne (Mimi) George, he identified that traditional Polynesian navigational techniques were still preserved in the Polynesian outlier Taumako. Lewis' next adventure in 1972 was an attempt at circumnavigating Antarctica single-handed. For this he acquired a small steel yacht, named Ice Bird. Facing treacherous conditions in the Southern Ocean after departing, Lewis was not heard from for 13 weeks but eventually managed to sail the Ice Bird to the Antarctic Peninsula under a jury rig after dismasting. Lewis was rescued by personnel from the Antarctic research outpost Palmer Station, who subsequently repaired the Ice Bird while Lewis spent the Antarctic winter in Australia. After returning eight months later, Lewis left Palmer station to complete the voyage, but that very same day was caught in a heavy ice field and had to be towed to open water by the R.V. Hero. Later, Lewis capsized again and eventually brought the boat to Cape Town, South Africa. Edited aspects of these events are described in his bestseller book, Ice Bird.