MV Takitimu: Historic Gisborne Boat Cruise
Updated: 2 days ago
Location: Pier 1, Inner Harbour, Gisborne
Season: Public sailings are generally in the warmer months from October
Cruise duration: Approximately 1¼ hours
Indicative public cruise price: Adults/college age $25, younger passengers $15
Phone: 027 539 3303
Bookings: Recommended, with sailings weather-dependent
Website: MV Takitimu Facebook Page
There are easier ways to see Gisborne from the water.
Very few come with more than a century of stories attached.
The MV Takitimu is believed to be the oldest pilot vessel in New Zealand still capable of operating.
Built in 1921, she began life as Gisborne’s first pilot launch and tug, working from the harbour long before pleasure cruises, marina cafés and smartphones entered the picture.
More than 100 years later, she is still here, still floating and, importantly, still going to sea.
That makes a trip aboard Takitimu something quite different from many of the other things to do in Gisborne
This isn't a modern tour boat dressed up to look historic.
It is the historic boat.
A working boat with a serious past
Takitimu arrived in Gisborne in December 1921 after being built for the Gisborne Harbour Board as a combined tug and pilot vessel.
Her job was practical rather than glamorous.
In the days when larger freighters could not simply pull alongside modern wharves, cargo was transferred to barges and colliers offshore.
Takitimu helped tow these vessels between ship and shore, while her pilot duties connected incoming ships with people who knew the local harbour and coastal waters.
She spent decades earning her keep.
That long working life is part of what makes the boat interesting today.
A surprising amount of her original character, fixtures and fittings has survived, giving passengers something closer to a functioning piece of maritime history than a reconstructed museum exhibit.
And unlike most museum exhibits, this one starts its engine.
The boat Gisborne refused to lose
By 2000, Takitimu's commercial working career had effectively reached its end.
That could easily have been the final chapter.
Old working vessels are expensive things to own, maintain and keep seaworthy, and sentiment does not pay a shipyard bill.
Instead, a group of local boating enthusiasts formed a charitable trust and bought Takitimu for $27,100, keeping the vessel in Gisborne rather than allowing her to disappear elsewhere.
Public support, charitable funding and a considerable amount of volunteer effort followed.
The result is one of those wonderfully improbable Gisborne stories.
A boat built for harbour work in 1921 has survived long enough for visitors more than a century later to step aboard and cruise the same stretch of water she once worked.
What the cruise is actually like
The attraction is partly the boat, but the other half of the experience is seeing Gisborne from somewhere most visitors never do.
From the harbour, Takitimu heads out into the bay, opening up views back towards the city and along the coastline.
Longer excursions can travel towards Young Nick's Head when weather and operating conditions allow.
It is an unexpectedly good way to appreciate Gisborne's geography.
From land, the city can feel wonderfully flat and relaxed. From the water, the scale changes. The coastline stretches away, the hills suddenly make sense and familiar landmarks become part of a much bigger landscape.
And there is something particularly satisfying about doing it from the timber deck of a century-old working vessel rather than behind the tinted windows of a modern launch.
You hear the engine.
You smell the sea.
You can wander the deck and look at the details.
Nothing about Takitimu feels mass-produced.
Old enough to have character, not precious enough to hide
One of the nicest things about the MV Takitimu is that she has not been preserved by locking her away.
The Gisborne MV Takitimu Charitable Trust continues to operate the vessel for passenger trips, charter excursions, private functions, tourism, conservation work and, when required, search and rescue support.
In 2025, the trust received $21,356 toward hull refurbishment, including lifting the vessel, sandblasting, repainting and applying new antifouling.
Keeping a boat of this age operating takes continual maintenance, which makes the survival of Takitimu all the more remarkable.
She isn't simply being remembered.
She is still being used.
A very Gisborne sort of attraction
There is no enormous ticket office.
No animatronic captain.
No gift shop containing twelve varieties of branded tea towel.
The appeal is much simpler.
You turn up at Gisborne's harbour, step onto a boat that was working here before most of the city you recognise today existed, and head out across the bay with people who have put considerable effort into keeping her alive.
For visitors looking for genuine local experiences, that matters.
Plenty of destinations can offer a boat trip.
Not many can put you aboard a vessel that has been part of the same harbour for more than 100 years.
Good for families too
Takitimu is not purely an attraction for people capable of discussing vintage marine engines for an uncomfortable length of time.
Public cruises have long been popular with families, visitors and locals, and child-sized life jackets are available.
Historic public sailings have generally operated during the warmer months and are weather-dependent.
Private charters have also been offered for groups, functions and excursions.
That makes Takitimu one of those relatively rare activities that can appeal equally to children, history enthusiasts, photographers and someone who simply likes the idea of being on a boat for an hour or so.
Before you go
Sailing schedules have historically varied with the season, weather and harbour operations, so this is one Gisborne attraction where it pays to check before heading down to the harbour.
Recent visitor information lists the cruise as approximately 1 hour to 1¼ hours, departing from the Gisborne port and marina area, with private charter options also available.
Because schedules and fares can change, we recommend confirming the current sailing day, departure time and price directly with the MV Takitimu operators before visiting.
Why we like it
Gisborne has plenty of attractions where the landscape is the star.
Takitimu offers something slightly different.
It combines the landscape with a genuine piece of the city's working history.
You are not merely looking at an old photograph of Gisborne harbour or reading about how it once operated. You are standing aboard one of the boats that actually did the work.
A century later, the old girl is still leaving the harbour.
That alone is a pretty good reason to climb aboard.
