Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia, as of Monday, are more than 600 miles out in the ocean since departing Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.
The Polynesian voyaging canoes are sailing to New Zealand, or Aotearoa, as part of the Moananuiākea voyage, a three-year journey around the Pacific Ocean where crew members reconnect with the ancestral roots of wayfinding.
Kaleo Wong, captain of the safety vessel Hikianalia, is bundled in a jacket and beanie. The temperatures are dropping as the canoes sail in the southern hemisphere.
“Even though we're traveling with Hōkūleʻa right next to us, we couldnʻt see them for a brief period of time because the fog was so thick, and thatʻs not something that we've ever experienced," he said.
Originally crew members on Leg 15 were supposed to sail to Samoa. But the nonprofit Polynesian Voyaging Society rerouted the voyage to sail away from the island’s hurricane season that begins in November.
The crew will make their way back to Samoa next year.
This year marks Hōkūleʻa’s 50th birthday and 40th anniversary since its first arrival in Aotearoa.
Wong said he and the crew are excited to see their Maori cousins.
“We’re the same Pacific people,” he said. “Although our culture and our practice are somewhat different, our language and our core values are all the same.”
Wong said since Hōkūleʻa’s creation, there have been more Pacific communities reviving their sailing practices by making their own double-hulled canoes.
Crew members will spot the Kermadec Islands first before making their way to Waitangi and are expected to arrive in mid-November.
Crew members will stay on the island throughout November. They will be involved in public events and engagements slated in Waitangi, Auckland and Aurere.
The canoes will dock in Aotearoa for about six months to wait out the South Pacific hurricane season before continuing their journey across the Pacific next year.
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