On Sunday June 5, Native American paddling groups from Eastern Long Island and upstate New York converged on Pier 40 to greet the Hokulea, a 60-foot-long, twin-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe that is midway through a multi-year circumnavigation. The fleet, consisting of two small canoes and two larger outrigger canoes, with extra paddlers from the Oneida, Onondaga, and Mohawk nations climbing aboard the Rachel Carson, headed south around 9 am to North Cove, where the Hokulea was moored. After a stirring welcome from indigenous leaders that included songs, dances and the ceremonial presentation of gifts, fleet captains carefully studied their weather apps and timed their departure to avoid an approaching rainstorm, with the usual consequences!