Kia haumaru ai, ngā tangata tai.
At Waitā Freediving, we bring people together through a kaupapa Māori approach to deepen their connection with Tangaroa so they can move with confidence in the moana and return home safely.
Discover MoreMō Mātau
Waitā (Wai: Water, Tā: Salt) is the sixth star of the Matariki cluster, representing our connection to the moana in all its forms — from tides and currents to the life it sustains. A bright Waitā signals a season of abundance and wellbeing.
Aotearoa’s relationship with Tangaroa runs deep — shaped by both our environment and the stories and traditions we inherit. While many people live close to the coast, the moana holds particular cultural, spiritual, and practical significance to Te Ao Māori, while remaining a place of connection and sustenance for all. This connection is expressed through kaitiakitanga — a shared responsibility to care for and protect the ocean for future generations. Mai i Te Rerenga Wairua ki Rakiura, people engage with the moana in many ways — gathering kai, exploring, and maintaining connections passed down through generations. These practices carry inherent risks, and each year preventable incidents occur due to gaps in training, water competency, and safety awareness.
Waitā exists to help bridge this gap.
Through a kaupapa Māori approach grounded in manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga, and whanaungatanga, Waitā delivers freediving education that is both culturally grounded and internationally recognised. Led by qualified Māori instructors, our programmes equip people with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to move safely in the moana.
Our focus is simple — protect lives, strengthen connection, and grow safer divers who carry both skill and responsibility into the moana.
Te Āhua o ā Mātau Mahi
Waitā works alongside Māori Authorities and community organisations to deliver freediving wānanga grounded in tikanga. Our programmes combine internationally recognised training with mātauranga Māori, equipping people with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to move safely in the moana.
From initial kōrero through to in-water training and ongoing support, every step is shaped in partnership with the people we serve.
Ngā Pou Ako
Ngāti Toa Rangatira
Born and raised in Takapūwāhia, Caleb is a passionate diver who grew up exploring and protecting the coastlines of Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) as an iwi diver for Ngāti Toa. He sits on the board of Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira and is the current Chair of Toa Kairuku Dive Club, delivering wānanga and programmes focused on getting whānau into the moana safely. Caleb has worked alongside Victoria University, NIWA, and ESR on marine monitoring projects, combining mātauranga Māori and science to protect our marine environments.
Ngāi te Rangi · Ngāti Ranginui · Te Arawa
Rangi grew up diving in Tauranga Moana and is passionate about gathering and teaching safe freediving practices, having mentored many local tāne and wāhine within his hapū communities. He feels most at home diving throughout the moutere (islands) surrounding Tauranga Moana, including Mōtītī, where his whānau (Ngāti Whakahemo) still reside as kaitiaki. Rangi participates in environmental monitoring at Ōtaiti (Astrolabe Reef) and serves as a Trustee for Ngāti Ranginui and a Director of Ngāti Ranginui Fisheries Trust.
Ngāti Porou · Ngāti Kahungunu
Rā is a waterman, educator, and community provider guided by his whakapapa and a deep connection to te moana. He dedicates his life to empowering others through freediving, spearfishing, and self-sustainability — not just as skills, but as pathways back to identity, purpose, and the land. Operating across the East Coast and beyond, Rā delivers grassroots programmes that uplift whānau and reconnect them with kai-gathering traditions. His mission: to restore connection to self, whakapapa, and te taiao — and to feed the people, body and soul.
Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa · Ngāi Tahu
Raised in Porirua within the rohe of Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Dave has spent much of his life in and around Raukawa Moana, forging his connection to the moana through gathering, diving, and community service. Passionate about growing the next generation of kairuku, he works closely with Toa Kairuku and Kura Toa, supporting rangatahi on their diving journeys and helping build confidence, safety, and connection in the water.
Te Aupōuri · Ngāpuhi · Waikato · Te Whānau-ā-Apanui
Tipene is proudly from the Far North, where he lives and spends much of his time fishing and diving the waters of both coasts of the Aupōuri Peninsula. Deeply connected to the moana through whakapapa, he sees the ocean as both a source of sustenance and a taonga to be protected hei oranga mō ngā uri whakatupu. As CEO of Te Rūnanga Nui o Te Aupōuri and founder of ocean apparel brand Ara Moana, Tipene is closely connected to fisheries and moana culture across commercial, recreational, and customary settings.
“We protect our Moana and respect it for the sustenance it provides.” — Waitā Freediving
Ngā Reo Tautoko
“Waitā gave Te Rūnanga Nui o Te Aupōuri an opportunity to learn the foundations of freediving in a te ao Māori space that is culturally relevant, safe, and responsive to all of us regardless of our experience levels.”
“The curriculum includes standard freediving principles, but also focuses on what we value the most which is being able to gather kai for our whānau, our marae, and our iwi while also looking after our moana.”
Pou Whakarae (CEO), Te Rūnanga Nui o Te Aupōuri
“The History of Rotoiti 15 Trust spans the past 60 years, however the connection to the whenua, roto and moana spans much deeper. Our inextricable link to Rotoiti has been maintained from Ngatoroirangi to Kahumatamomoe and Ihenga; to the people of Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Tarāwhai and Ngāti Rongomai; Our whakapapa to whenua, roto and moana is indivisible to who we are.”
“The Waitā experience allowed uri and kaimahi to express our connection to wai while also providing an opportunity to build on our technical skill in the water. Our investment into this kaupapa was about up-skilling our people and ultimately their safety.”
General Manager, Rotoiti 15 Trust
“What stood out most was the genuine manaaki shown by the Waitā kaimahi to our uri. From the moment they arrived, our uri were supported in a way that was culturally grounded, safe, and uplifting. The instructors created an environment where our uri felt encouraged, protected, and confident to grow, not just as divers, but as kaitiaki.”
“The care, patience and aroha demonstrated throughout the programme reflected values that strongly align with Tūaropaki, and we are grateful for the way our uri were nurtured and strengthened through this experience. They now feel safer and more confident in the water.”
General Manager, Tūaropaki Trust
“He taonga tēnei kaupapa, Te Haumarutanga wānanga nā Waitā. I tae atu mātou hei kairuku mō ō mātou whānau, mō ngā marae, mō ngā kaumātua. I hoki mai mātou me te māramatanga hōhonu ake. ”
“I tīmata ki te hā, kia tau ai te wairua, kia tau ai te hinengaro. Kātahi ka tuku karakia i mua i te kuhunga atu ki te parawhenuamea. I reira ka tohaina te mātauranga me te aroha, me pēhea te nekeneke pai i roto i te moana, me pēhea te tiaki i a tātou anō i raro i te wai, me pēhea hoki te kohi kai i runga i te whakaaro toitū.”
“Engari, ehara i te mea he pūkenga ruku anake. I whakapakarihia hoki tō mātou here ki a tātou anō, me tō mātou kaitiakitanga o te moana. Nāku te rourou, nāu te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi. Ngā mihi maioha ki te whānau o Waitā”
Pou Taiao, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ranginui
“Waitā Freediving’s passion and commitment to support whānau to become safer, more capable divers strongly aligns with the aspirations of Te Nehenehenui and our connection through our tupuna, Kinohaku. We were fortunate that Waitā Freediving was able to deliver an initiative for our iwi members that would provide fundamental benefits in various areas from culturally to hauora, mātauranga and whānau.”
“Through the program, our iwi members were able to understand and deepen their technical diving skills. Waitā created an environment where mātauranga Māori, hauora, and whakapapa were interwoven with safe practices, allowing our people to reconnect with ancestral knowledge in a way that was both empowering and grounded. The programme offered our kairuku the space to understand themselves in the water, to build confidence, and to safely push beyond perceived limits. Our iwi members have come away more confident, more connected, and more conscious of their role as kaitiaki. The initiative has delivered lasting, transferrable life skills, and its impact continues to resonate.”
“We acknowledge the Waitā Freediving team for the manaakitanga they showed our people, and for creating a space where our people felt safe, supported and inspired to carry out our role as kaitiaki.”
Group Chief Executive Officer, Te Nehenehenui (Ngāti Maniapoto)
Ā Mātau Hoa Haere
Hono Mai
We work with iwi, hapū, and Māori organisations to deliver safe freediving wānanga. If your organisation is interested in partnering with Waitā, fill out the form below and we'll be in touch.
