Island Discoveries has launched cruises on a traditional carved ocean voyaging canoe, or vaka, Marumara Atua. Two options to experience the vaka are offered - a 3 hour cruise around the main visitor island of Rarotonga and a four day return sailing from Rarotonga to the even more spectacular island of Aitutaki.
The third new tour is a land-based journey called Navigating Pacific Skies. It begins with a dinner on a beautiful beach as the sun sets and the stars make their appearance. The group then proceeds to follow the four points of the compass, guided by the stars, around Rarotonga, just 32 km in circumference.
Navigating Pacific Skies operates Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5.45pm (variable by time of year) for three hours and costs $120 per person including dinner (minimum six guests required).
Teuatakiri (Tua) Pittman- one of the Pacific's leading traditional master navigators - guides both the vaka and the navigation tours. Tua spent most of 2011 and 2012 navigating Marumaru Atua on a 30,000 kilometre journey around the Pacific, leading a fleet of seven open ocean sailing vaka as CEO of Pacific Voyagers (www.pacificvoyagers.org). The fleet sailed without modern sailing instruments to navigate by the stars in the wake of their Polynesian ancestors and with a message of ocean conservation.
Tua has returned home to Rarotonga to share with visitors his knowledge of the ancient skill of navigating by the stars, the importance of ocean conservation and the ocean's spiritual role in Cook Islands' culture, and tales of his incredible adventures at sea.
The 3 hour vaka voyages are available Wednesdays and Saturdays - and cost NZ$95 per voyager, including refreshments. Other days can be arranged for groups subject to weather.
The Aitutaki Adventure is offered once a month for six passengers and costs NZ$899 per voyager, including all meals and three nights accommodation. Two nights are spent at sea on the inter-island voyage and one night on spectacular Aitutaki Lagoon, sleeping in either your bunk, on the deck or on the beach of an uninhabited motu (islet).
The sail to Aitutaki takes around 18 hours in ideal winds and seas. Passengers are allocated to a watch to work shifts of three hours on, six hours off, alongside the professional crew of 10 and the Navigator, who is on-duty the entire voyage. Guests have the opportunity to learn all the skills of running a traditional canoe, plus traditional navigation basics.
"We launched Island Discoveries to deliver a different kind of island experience to our Manuiri (honoured guests). Our wish for you is to take home memories of warm people, beautiful surroundings and an understanding of our lives and our history that makes your visit to our country something that will touch your hearts and your minds," says Tua.
"Our tours are about connection - connecting with our past, connecting with our culture and our environment and connecting with each other."
Island Discoveries also runs other connection experiences for guests including 'Dinner with Friends' a dinner party with locals for 2 or more guests at an island home; 'Whale Researcher for a Day' - the only tour in the world where two guests can spend the day out with one of the world's leading whale scientists helping with their vital research and bespoke shopping and arts tours which allow you to get up close and personal with the artisans and the products.
To book Island Discoveries email bookings@islanddiscoveries.co.ck or phone +68 2 55884. Book both the 3-hour vaka cruise and the Navigating Pacific Skies dinner for the special combination rate of $180 per person.
Background 2011/2012 Pacific Vaka Voyage
Powered solely by the sun and the wind, seven double-hulled vaka have completed a 15-month extreme expedition that has seen them travel 20,000 nautical miles across the Pacific, to raise awareness of environmental issues.The traditional 22m-long vaka make up a pan-Pacific network of voyaging societies recapturing traditional Pacific voyaging and navigational skills. The network is supported by Okeanos, a German-based philanthropic organisation which promotes the protection of the world's oceans and marine life.
The seven vaka - Marumaru Atua (Cook Islands crew), Gaualofa (Samoa), Uto Ni Yalo (Fiji), Haunui (Pan Pacific), Te Matau a Maui (New Zealand) and Hine Moana (Pan Pacific), and Faafaite (Tahiti) first sailed from Auckland to Hawaii to attend an international environmental conference.
The second leg of the journey saw the vakas continuing to North America, returning via the Cocos Islands, Galapagos, French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, with the ultimate destination of the Solomon Islands for the 11th Pacific Arts Festival in July 2012.
Four of the vaka made a shorter Pacific voyage in 2010, sailing from New Zealand to French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. Among those on that journey was vaka expert Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr. Mr Barclay-Kerr, the cultural advisor for the project, said the voyage is not the stuff of boyhood adventure, but has a very serious objective.
"The vakas are taking a strong environmental message, that impacts on all of us, across the Pacific. We are looking to draw attention to such issues as over fishing, ocean noise pollution, acidification and anoxic waters. It is a message of human accountability. Nothing will happen until people make changes."
The vaka, which each carry 16 crew, were built at Salthouse Boatbuilders in Auckland and blend modern boat building technologies with traditional Pacific craftsmanship. The hulls are constructed with e-glass and foam and the super structure is wood. The sail locker includes traditional flax sails and modern gennakers.
The Pacific voyage is the subject of a documentary film produced by Okeanos and its subsidiary, the New Zealand company Oceanic Nature Film Productions, called Our Blue Canoe - to be released in early 2014. Read more on Our Blue Canoe and the vakas purpose at www.pacificvoyagers.org.
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