After sailing more than two weeks on the open ocean, the Polynesian voyaging canoes reached New Zealand, or Aotearoa, marking a major milestone in their Moananuiākea Voyage.
Crew members on Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia arrived a week ahead of the celebration in Waitangi and are under kapu until Friday.
During that time, the crew will rest and self-reflect before the official welcoming ceremony.
Kaleo Wong, who is captain of the safety vessel Hikianalia, said the crew had an ʻawa ceremony to talk about their trip.
“It's nice to hear their stories and their perspectives and the things that they were seeing on their voyage as well,” he said. “To reconnect with the Hōkūleʻa crew on land is such a powerful thing to reaffirm and to hear what they were feeling, seeing and experiencing on their canoe.”
Last month, the canoes originally planned to sail from the Cook Islands to Samoa. But the Polynesian Voyaging Society rerouted the voyage so the canoes could sail away from the South Pacific’s hurricane season.
Wong said the sail to Aotearoa was mostly overcast.
“Given that we were navigating by the stars and other ocean conditions, it was very difficult because you couldn't see the stars most of the time,” he said. “It was primarily 100% overcast, changing winds and swells. It was difficult to navigate in, but it was nice that we didn't get a lot of rain and didn't have a lot of rough seas.”
The official welcoming ceremony will be held this Friday. Crew members will do community engagement for the rest of the month and will remain in Aotearoa until May.
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