Endeavour - dolphins and 100 Maori in a waka at Waitangi

Today has become one of the most spiritual and amazing days of my entire life, I got to experience something that probably no-one else in the world has experienced for over a hundred of years; you will simply not believe what has happened today.

Let me start from the beginning early in the morning at 3am with my last watch shift. As we are anchored all is quiet and only two people from the watch are needed to be awake and there is not a lot to do. I spent the time on my laptop catching up on work e-mails (not very exciting but had to be done). At 4am I headed back to my hammock for the last time and tried to get some more sleep; which was not very successful and I ended up getting up just after 6am as I heard the anchor being raised and I knew we were about to start moving towards Waitangi.

Later on that morning as we started to get near Waitangi suddenly in the distance dolphins appeared, heading directly towards us and incredibility the dolphins starting swimming along with the Endeavour.

I was out the front of the ship and I had great views of the dolphins which were swimming right in front of the bow of the ship.

Incredibility the Endeavour was being guided into Waitangi by dolphins!! The dolphins were swimming along at the same speed as the Endeavour.

And I don’t just mean for a couple of minutes these dolphins where with us for a good 15 – 20 minutes as we headed into Waitangi, it was quite surreal and spiritual to have these majestical beautiful creatures of the sea shepherding us into the most historical important site in New Zealand, where the treaty of Waitangi was signed.

Then if the dolphins weren’t enough, the morning got even more special as in the distance I could see this huge waka canoe heading out to us, it was the Ngāpuhi waka tane (war canoe) at Waitangi with over 80 people on board.

As the water around Waitangi is not very deep the Endeavour could not get close to the shore, so the waka had to travel out a fair distance to us and as it approached the Maori warriors on board started to challenge at us at full volume, and then I noticed that behind it was another waka with woman paddlers on board who also started to challenge to us.

It’s really hard to describe what it is like to have such a massive waka approaching you with a verbal haka challenge being thrown at you, This massive waka then slowly circled us with the Maori on-board paddling and continuing their challenge at the same time – it so emotional. I literally started getting tears in my eyes and I noticed that every single kiwi on board and even some of those from other cultures were also getting blurry eyed as well.

What an amazing experience to receive a challenge on the water from so many young Maori full of passion with the waka’s cutting through the waves so much faster than the Endeavour and the dolphins were still jumping around us all. This was one of the most spiritual moments of my life and I feel so privileged to have had the chance to experience something of this magnitude.

I found out the following day that the Ngāpuhi waka tane (war canoe) at Waitangi only goes into the water for Waitangi Day, and this year it didn’t even do that as they couldn’t get the minimum 80 crew for it. So for the local Maori to come together to rightfully challenge the Endeavour is quite something. And I bet this will be the last time for a while before another ship receives such a strong traditional Maori challenge while at sea.

Next up there was this remarkable moment when Tukairangi did a talented, very cool and loud challenge back over the water to the waka from on-board the Endeavour. Incredibility Tukairangi was all the focus and everything went quiet as the massive waka with its challenge just went silent as they listened to his reply, before starting up again when he finished.

Waitangi treaty grounds in the distance with the huge war waka and the Spirt of NZ

The waka’s then started heading back to shore and I headed downstairs to prepare myself for our landing into Waitangi. A local boat has been hired to get all of us ashore. After we docked we headed over from the wharf to the beach in front of the lower marae at Waitangi were us the crew from the Endeavour mixed and mingled with the crews from the others ships in the Tuia 250 fleet; 3 ocean going waka including the Faatea all the way from Tahiti, the Spirt of New Zealand with teenagers on board and the Tucker Thompson. So three waka and three tall ships. We all stayed on the beach as the crew from all the ships gathered and it took several trips to get all the crew off the Endeavour.

Woman paddlers and their waka back on the shore

When everyone was ready we waited a little bit longer before we in-mass entered the lower Marae at Waitangi and I along with everyone else received the ultimate gold standard Maori challenge and welcome onto the Marae. First up around 20 warriors with a direct challenge and then the crew of the waka who were now also ashore supporting them from behind.

To be on the receiving end of so many Maori warriors at Waitangi is simply an incredible unique experience and just adds to the emotions this morning.

After we were allowed onto the marae we were seated for the speeches and singing, and yes it took over three hours with most of it in Maori but I along with everyone didn’t seem to notice the time. Everyone really appreciated the welcome and also this let our emotions settle down after this morning’s experiences.

Afterwards Tukairangi translated for us that most of the speakers were quite welcoming and acknowledged that Tuia 250 and this event is about the recognising all of the people who travelled across the pacific using a range of methods; from Polynesian’s in their waka’s using the stars to European in their tall ships using sextants. So this is not at all about Captain Cook and the Endeavour which was nice to hear. There were several speakers who did have different views and were quite vocal about the negative impacts on Maori caused by Europeans in their tall ships but these were the exception and it is important for everyone to have their say.

Afterwards we were involved in a long line to hongi (pressing of noses) with everyone and then we were provided a wonderful lunch. After enjoying our meal we had to get back to the Endeavour as she needs to be moved to Opua down the road which has a deep port.

A lot of work has gone into today, with a marque tent and providing lunch to hundreds of people and the use of the waka tane with over 80 people on board was so special.

Ngāpuhi waka tane (war canoe) on the water.

It was of course a special occasion for me and others on the Endeavour, but I’m quite sure it was also an amazing day for all the locals involved especially for the paddlers on the waka. Challenging a square rigged sailing shipping from a waka must have been also so very unique and special occasion for them as well.

As soon as the Endeavour began to move out of Waitangi the dolphins suddenly appeared again and joined us. It’s like they had been the local spirts and had been waiting for us all day. The dolphins joined us on the Endeavour for the next 15 – 20 minutes as theysShepparded us out of Waitangi – the local spirts are definitely with us.

It was a short trip to Opua, and once the Endeavour was berthed I had to say goodbye to her. It has been an experience even more powerful and enjoyable than I thought it could be. Yes I enjoyed climbing all over the rigging, pulling up and down sails, sleeping in a hammock in a crowded hold, turning the capstan but I also got to be on-board when challenged by around 100 Maori warriors out in the sea while surrounded by dolphins – Wow!

The evening was spent in Pahia, with some others who were on board the Endeavour, before spending the night in a B&B for a bus trip back to Auckland the following day.

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Endeavour - dolphins and 100 Maori in a waka at Waitangi