Moko laid to rest facing sacred Mauao | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

HANDFULS of seaweed added a deep poignancy to the emotionally charged burial on Saturday of Moko the dolphin.

Moko's final resting place on Matakana Island was chosen by Maori because of the deep spiritual significance they attached to the death of the playful dolphin that touched the lives of thousands of people.

Matakana Island residents turned out in force to swell the numbers at the private burial to nearly 100 people.

A group of Maori from Whakatane who grew close to Moko during his three months frolicking in waters near the town, dropped handfuls of seaweed on top of a coffin adorned with messages of love.

Tangiwai Haney said the seaweed was from Otarawairere, a bay between Ohope and Whakatane where Moko loved to frolic and rest.

If he was unable to find toys like a stick to play with, then Moko would use seaweed to interact with humans.

The seaweed was gathered last Friday by Brent Sheather who used to come down from Auckland every second weekend to be with Moko.

Moko was buried on the crest of a sand dune facing Mauao - one of the most powerful cultural icons in Maoridom.

There was an outpouring of grief from those who grew to love the bottlenose dolphin who spent most of his time at Mahia in northern Hawke's Bay before migrating around the East Coast to Tauranga. Moko's coffin was lowered into the grave by Matakana Islanders John and Ronnie Gardiner, Enoka and Mark Ngatai, Richard and Timoti Murray and Haanu Koperu. The men spent 15 minutes shovelling in the sand as Whakatane's Pouroto Ngaropo, of Ngati Awa iwi, recited incantations.

It was no accident that the iwi along whose coastline Moko frolicked chose such a prominent site to bury the dolphin, across from their ancestral Mauao.

Not only was the grave a short distance from where Moko was found washed up on July 7, but Mauao held a powerful symbolism for the Takitimu canoe from which many of the tribes of the Bay of Plenty and East Coast are descended.

Mr Ngaropo said whales and dolphins played an important part in the migration stories and the Takitimu canoe which brought Maori to the Bay of Plenty 900 years ago was no exception.

The arrival of Moko in Tauranga after long spells at Mahia, Gisborne and Whakatane, was the reverse order in which the Takitimu canoe voyaged around the Bay and East Coast.

"We believe that Moko came home and it was the life force of the Takitimu canoe that brought him back home to the people of Tauranga Moana. "He was a descendent of the whales and dolphins which followed the original migration."

Mr Ngaropo, who led the negotiations to decide where Moko would be buried, said Moko's death off Tauranga was symbolic of a homecoming.

Ngai Te Rangi kaumatua Hauata Palmer, who succeeded against competing claims from other iwi to ensure that tradition was followed in the burial of Moko, said it was a great honour to burythe dolphin.

 On Saturday stories about Moko abounded, including one from Errin Hallen, the master of Whakatane's dredge Evelyn J.

The dolphin somehow knew the location of his bunk and would dive down and blow bubbles under the hull at night. If that didn't wake him up, Moko would rattle the chain on the stabiliser bar. "He was a most amazing dolphin."

Margaret Clark, of Opotiki, said there was definitely a thought process going on with Moko. "You feel you had a relationship with Moko - he definitely knew individuals."

If someone teased Moko or had him on, then he would reciprocate and have them on too.

The dolphin's chief minder in Whakatane, Kirsty Carrington, said Moko had left behind a legacy of peace and trust.

Her most emotional memory of Moko was when she slept over on the Evelyn J, two-and-a-half months ago. It was so flat and so peaceful that she could hear Moko swimming in the water all night long, and she lay there listening to him, aware that the dolphin was aware of her.

At sunrise, she went out on deck and there was Moko bringing her a fresh John Dory.

 Speakers referred to how Moko touched people in a lot of different ways - spiritually and physically. There was a feeling that they would never see a dolphin like him again.

Documentary film-maker Amy Taylor, of Mount Maunganui, said Moko was very caring and without doubt saved the lives of two pygmy sperm whales who had stranded on the East Coast. He revived the whales by "chatting" to them until they started to chat back, encouraging them back from the brink until they freed themselves and followed Moko out to sea. "It was a most mind-blowing thing."

She had also seen people playing dead on the river at Whakatane, knowing Moko would push them to shore with his beak to "save" their lives.