Vaka Marumaru Atua left Rarotonga for Hawaii, to attend the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture from June 6-16, on Friday morning.

The crew will be keeping readers informed of their approximately 25-day journey at sea with a daily blog in the Cook Islands News.

Here’s their first blog on day two of their journey.

Evening report for Marumaru Atua as of 1800hrs Sunday 12th May 2024

Position: S18'00898 W156'16.062

Course ordered 025' Course Steered 030'

SOG. 7.6 Knots

Situation: Maru making good mileage with the Easterly winds on our beam gaining an average speed of 7.5knots both main and mezzin sails full, big swells from the south starting to show. The crew are happy and full from tonight’s dinner of roast pork stew and on behalf of the crew we would like to send a big happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing mothers out there.

Tama Tuakanangaro, Te Puna Marama Voyaging Foundation trainee: “Kia orana everyone. Teia te mataora nei au i to matou teret Iere'anga na runga i te moana. Inana'i, kua akaruke atu matou ia Rarotonga i te popongi. Kua mataora tikae au i ta matou au anga'anga tei rave atu i runga i te vaka. Mei te tamoumou te au taura e pera katoa te au kie o te vaka. Kua tere tikai to matou vaka i te akaruke anga ia Rarotonga kua tano te matangi, kua ua ririnui e pera kua akamata te tai i te ngaru. I teia ra te rekareka nei au ite na runga atu i to tatou vaka Marumaru Atua ite mata atu i to tatou iti tangata  Kuki Airani no tuanga nui te ka rave iatu ki Hawai'i.

“Kia orana everyone. I'm excited to be sailing on the ocean. Yesterday (Friday) we departed from Rarotonga in the morning. I’m excited for everything that we’ve been doing on the vaka. We set all the ropes and sails and the vaka sailed swiftly when we left Rarotonga. The wind was right, but we had heavy rain and sea began to grow rough. Today it’s a pleasure to be on our vaka, Marumaru Atua to represent our Cook Islands people for the festival being held in Hawai'i.

Special meitaki maata to Nia Tero for supporting our up and coming voyagers.”