United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sailed aboard Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia in Apia Harbor, Samoa yesterday.

According to a press release from the Polynesian Voyaging Society, the UN leader joined the worldwide voyaging crew along with artist Wyland and Blue Planet founder Henk Rogers.

“Hōkūle’a, our voyaging canoe, threads together stories of hope as she voyages across the world’s oceans,” said Nainoa Thompson, president and master navigator of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. “We are inspired that His Excellency Ban Ki-moon and island leaders are coming together on Hōkūle’a’s deck around shared values of preserving and protecting our oceans.” 

Ban Ki-moon presented Thompson and the crew with a handwritten message in a bottle that he asked them to carry with them as they circle the globe.

Naiona Thompson and Ban Ki-moon go for a cruise.

Polynesian Voyaging Society

The message stated, “I am honored to be a part of Hōkūle’a’s Worldwide Voyage. I am inspired by its global mission. As you tour the globe, I will work and rally more leaders to our common cause of ushering in a more sustainable future, and a life of dignity for all.” 

The sail represented the theme of the worldwide voyage, Mālama Honua, or “Care for Our Island Earth.”

The secretary general with in Samoa for an ongoing United Nations Small Island Developing States conference focused on island nations that are vulnerable to climate change.

“People often say we are in the same boat,” Ban Ki-moon said at the conference. “I would say we are all on the same small island on the same small planet Earth; this is like a small boat in the universe.”