Pearl Farm tour

We learned early when we arrived in French Polynesia, that the most beautiful of all the pearls, comes from the Gambier Islands. Maybe because of the cooler water, maybe because of the clarity of the lagoon, but Robert Wan is headquartered here and owns part of the island of Aukena.

We had heard about a man named Eric, who was a cruiser friendly pearl farm. Many of the farmers, especially Wan, are not cruiser friendly and does not want us around. Funny thing, Eric turned out to be Wan's nephew, who had run his farm for him for many years. Then he married a beautiful Polynesian woman named Tina and they opened their own pearl farm.

On the NE side of the outer motus of the Gambiers is a spot known as the “False Pass”. This is a place where the sea has broken through the reef, but the water is not deep enough for a boat to pass through it. Hense the falseness of it. Eric and Tina's house is located just on the East side of the False pass. 

They have a magnificent beautiful beach.

As you move farther East along the motu, you come upon their pearl farm business.

As we motored toward their side of the island, this is what the bottom contour looks like. Somewhat steep in places, where coral comes close to the surface.

As we arrived the men were removing the oysters from their plastic mesh holding system. This is step one after they are brought ashore by the divers. Of course, you also should know, those oysters have been out there working for a minimum of 18 months making pearls.

The oyster shells are attached to their “cage” with a plastic zip tie. Then the top is brought over them and they are sealed in place by the big plastic mesh.

The oysters are placed in a plastic crate and brought inside the red pointed roofed building.

Here they pump sea water over them while they wait, to keep them alive.

The oysters are then sorted.

This lady does the sorting and organizes the oysters for the surgeons.

She opens each one, using gloved hands so not to scratch herself on the sharp edges.

She places a wedge in each one to keep it open. This is no small feat, as the oyster muscles are quite strong!

She places them in bins for each of the surgeons.

This is Eric's #1 surgeon, operating at his work station. He can remove more pearls per hour than any of the other surgeons.

He places that tool next to the wedge and forces the shell open a bit more so he can perform his surgery.

Then he uses his tools to find and extract the pearl.

The pearl is placed on his work mat where he finds a new nucleus to place inside the pearl. It has to match the size of the pearl that was removed.

He chooses a different one.

After placing the nucleus back in the same spot, he releases the shell back to closed.

Our #2 man is close behind and also does very good work.

He allows me to get a closer look of how his tool works, locking the shell in an open position.

His view of the oyster.

My camera captures just the right light to see the pearl reflecting down inside.

He uses this blue starboard plate to hold his tools and size up his pearl. The tool on the right works like a suction cup to hold the pearl while removing it.

He also has these tongs for the more difficult ones to remove.

The white buckets have cleansing sea water and removed pearls. Each of the white nucleus's are pre sized for easy picking.

They are just smooth plastic balls which the pearl shell grows on, but they look like a bunch of marbles. 

Sizing up a nucleus with a removed pearl.

Inside the pearl bucket, you can see that no two are alike, in either shape, size or color.

The girls working in the next room, also performing the surgery.

Mike, Marcus and our host Eric, discussing the process.

Eric explains the anatomy of an oyster. Not all oysters can be re-used for growing another pearl, but they average 3-5 useages per oyster. (that is times 18 months each in the water)

The nucleus is placed inside the gonads of the oyster (OUCH!) Then the oyster uses its muscle to roll the nucleus around on its shell. You can see the color of the rainbow inside the oyster's shell. So depending on which color the oyster rubs the nucleus on, is what decides what color that pearl will be.

When an oyster is damaged or not able to be used again for pearl making, it goes into this pile.

Oysters waiting to be de shelled.

Our first man is the same one who cleans the oysters.

Once cleaned just the muscle remains on the shell.

When the muscle is removed, it is put in this vat of salt water to be cleaned, washed, then EATEN!!

The empty shells after all has been removed.

The shells are then bagged in these black bags and shipped back to Tahiti on the supply boat.

The shells are bought by various suppliers in Tahiti and sold for art work. When we got married in Mo'orea, back in 2016, we bought these shells as gifts for our guests. Some shells are carved by hand into various shapes or animals, but ours are etched with a machine, custom for us.

So there you have it, the many colors of the life of a Black Lipped Oyster. From beginning of life, through work of pearl making, to being dinner (yummy by the way!) and to beautiful art work like this. Mauruuru (Thank you in Polynesian) Mr. Oyster!!