May 29, 2012 Pearl Farm tour - Pete had asked at a dive shop about diving and pearl farm tours. Divers need to be checked out first before they will take us out and tour is special so we just snorkeled off the boat. There was a pearl shop across the street and they offered to give us a tour. They inspect the oysters 7-8 AM and then again 1-2PM so we set up for the 1-2 PM tour. We took off for the dock to be at out tour start but had to stop for ice cream and chatted with the local kids just let out from local school.

arrived at the shop and met Gunter (originally from Germany), the Polynesian shop keeper's husband, who owns the pearl farm with his wife and son, a family affair. He drove us out to their farm. He explained the process of seeding the oyster with Mississippi oyster shells and letting their oyster create the black pearl. Which gets name from the coloration of the shell which then creates the "black" pearl verses the Japanese "white" pearl. It takes 18 months for oyster to produce a pearl and they can reseed it again with same size seed as pearl which was removed to make the next bigger pearl. This can be done 4 times. Then we got to see person doing as we had learned, a very delicate operation. Then we got a lesson in grading ...color,shape, brilliance and last size.

That was great. After that we were invited to go shopping. Very informative and educational, unfortunately the pearl industry has been hurting too during this world recession and many local farms are closing. Gunter had told us there were only 5 left in operation on Fakarava, his in fact was downsized with a minimul staff, just to keep the process going, as the investment is intensive to start.

Surprising the Tahitian pearl industry has only been around for about 30 years, but the pearls are found in many jewelry stores around the world.

Pete