Update | Waiting for Waitangi

Aloha nui kākou! This is Pomai Bertelmann coming to you live from Pahia on the really large moku of Aotearoa. I’m a crewmember on Hōkūleʻa and part of the Worldwide Voyage with Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia. I am truly blessed and grateful to be part of the ʻohana (family) who was able to bring Hōkūleʻa from Pago Pago, American Samoa and Vavaʻu and Tongatapu in the Kingdom of Tonga. And now to be here on the north island of Aotearoa. This has been a really amazing experience for me and for the ʻohana that travelled over the sea. We were able to successfully find and pull up the islands of Te Ika a Maui and Aoteaora in 13 days. We had a great team of navigators, Kaʻiulani Murphy and Kaleo Wong. They were supported by our captain, pwo navigator, and sail master Bruce Blankenfeld, who is such an amazing mentor in the way that he was able to lead and direct and to support the navigation that was happening onboard. We had an amazing group of people on the canoe. There were four wahine and 11 men. What that does is that makes for an amazing opportunity to come together as ʻohana. And what is truly amazing about that is that there is great balance; thereʻs kāne (male) and wahine (female) like we have the kāne and wahine hulls of the canoe. There was that kind of balance on the canoe. We arrived here in Pahia three days ago, and we are collectively preparing the canoes – Hōkūlʻea and Hikianalia – and the crews for our pōwhiri and our welcome into Waitangi here in the Bay of Islands where many years ago in 1985, Hōkūleʻa came and made and built relationships with many families and friends here in Waitangi. Those relationships are ongoing. We have Uncle Hector Busby who was here and part of that coordination. We are also here to celebrate Uncle Tupi Puriri who helped to orchestrate everything that happened here in 1985, as well as Sir James Henare and the people of Aotearoa who accepted us graciously and who have loved us from afar and who have done everything they could to allow us to be here. And so we are preparing for that time both on the exterior in the environment, but also on the inside because this is a monumental opportunity for many of us. A few of those names mentioned are no longer with us. So potentially in another 29 or 30 years when it’s likely that the canoe will come through again, there’s a potential that some of us may not be here as well. In preparation, we make sure that what we are doing will allow us the opportunity to be part of the moment and be in the moment of what is taking place and give of our whole selves. So it has been an amazing opportunity be here. I am very blessed to be part of this voyaging ʻohana waʻa. We look forward to the next couple of days ahead to celebrating waʻa in this time. There will be a live stream tomorrow beginning at 11am Hawaiʻi Standard Time. Please continue to follow us at Hokulea.com. Mahalo!