Auckland Harbour put on its best, to welcome the veteran of countless anti-nuclear protests.
It was not the biggest welcome, but a better one than Greenpeace boat The Vega received in Mururoa in 1973.
That was when she was rammed in international waters by a French minesweeper.
Greenpeace founder, David McTaggart, was also assaulted and arrested by French soldiers.
This morning, the welcome was much warmer.
“Oh it's awesome... all the way... fantastic... she knew the way all the way home,” Mr Taggart says.
Vega's skipper Daniel Mares has been with her for many years, sailing sometimes in friendly waters, and sometimes, as in Mururoa, not so friendly.
"I think of her as a kind of archetypal David and Goliath. I don't think of her fighting the sea, she's at one with the sea," he says.
A group of Friends of The Vega have bought the yacht and are setting up The Vega Pacific Trust. It will be based in New Zealand and Pia Mancia says the aim will be to teach young people about the environment and living peacefully.
"She grabs your soul y'know, she's little, but it's that David and Goliath thing. We've come up against warships, you know. She's gone to Mururoa and she had a major impact on the French government stopping the nuclear testing in French Polynesia. So she's small, but she's mighty,” she says.
The Vega is 60 years old now and has seen her share of sea battles. But now, it is maybe time to settle down in a berth at the maritime museum.
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