Cook Islands Voyaging Society crew members are visiting Hawai’i to enhance, teach and explore their navigational skills and seafaring techniques, as well as to strengthen ties with the Polynesian voyaging community.

Marine scientist, Dr Antony “Ant” Sean Tekau-Ariki Vavia and Metua Vai-ne Tauirarii Mitchell, will attend the Koʻolauloa ʻOhana Waʻa Training Camp next week from March 18 to 22, on the island of Oʻahu.

Mitchell and Vavia were both crew members on Vaka Marumaru Atua’s 25-day voyage to Hawai’i last year, to participate in the 2024 Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC).

They will teach skills such as knot-making, sailing techniques, navigating by the star compass, steering and crew responsibilities. The two will also share the history and culture of Cook Islands voyaging traditions, as well as their personal voyaging experience. They will collaborate with the Hawai’ians to inspire and engage participants in the practices of our ancestors.

Vavia is the first Pacific Islander to earn a doctoral degree in marine biology from the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) New Zealand.

He arrived in O’ahu this week.

“Sailing to Hawai’i for FestPAC 2024 really helped to set the bar real high with the relationship (the pilina) we built between our Cook Islands vaka crew and our Ohana wa’a,” said Vavia.

“It was this awesome cultural explosion of new friendships and shared experiences and promoting everything to do with vaka – from sailing, navigating, song and performance.”

Vavia said he made “some pretty cool and inspiring mates” during that time, so when the call came to continue building this foundation by volunteering at the Ko'olauloa 'Ohana Wa'a Training Camp, it was difficult to decline.

“There’s just so much room for learning and cultural exchange from our members in Te Puna Marama and Cook Islands Voyaging Society and the Ohana Wa'a in Hawai’i,” he said.

“I’m really hoping to get a grasp of the education curricular that they deliver here in Hawai’i.”

Although there are vaka voyaging programmes here in the Cook Islands, Vavia says, “perhaps there are things that we can take away from here that might help us shape and advance, uplifting our next generation of voyagers”.

The camp is the initiative of local Hawaiian, Kahiamaikalani Walker, the director of the Koʻolauloa ʻOhana Waʻa Training Camp, who had the “privilege” of sailing with the Vaka Marumaru Atua crew during FestPAC 2024 from Hawai’i to Rarotonga.

“That remarkable experience deepened my appreciation for the art and culture of voyaging and the strong connections shared between our Pacific communities,” said Walker.

He said the aim of the camp is to teach voyaging skills to members of his local community while fostering stronger pilina among Pacific voyaging ʻohana.

“Your presence would not only enrich the learning experience for our participants but also provide an excellent opportunity to exchange methods for teaching voyaging skills and to learn from each other’s approaches,” Walker said.

“This collaboration could help strengthen and build up our respective voyaging programmes for the future.”

This camp is not just about teaching voyaging skills – it’s about strengthening the ties that connect our Pacific ʻohana and honouring the traditions passed down to us, he adds.

“Your contribution would be invaluable in helping us achieve these goals.”