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On Sunday, I returned home from my trip to Tahiti. Tahiti for me, is one of those special places that captures every one of my senses. From the time I step off the plane and feel the tropical heat, smell the fresh tiare flowers, and hear the sounds of live Tahitian music welcoming you to the islands, my mind is instantly set at ease. This is a place that I hold very specially and often times think of during these colder winter months! What do I love so much about Tahiti? Well, the tropical weather does not hurt, but what I really love about Tahiti and the islands of French Polynesia is the spirit and culture of the islands. This is a place where simplicity and natural beauty are prized above all else. Beauty is as simple as a tiare flower or a smile. This mentality translates directly to the pearls that they offer to all of us. Pearls are not always prized because of large size, perfect round shape, or even flawless skin! Pearls in the islands are prized because of their uniqueness in color, shape, luster, and even circles! The types of pearls most commonly seen being worn in the islands are typically baroque/ semi- baroque or circle pearls with bright luster and color. Each person has different ideals for the type of pearl they prefer, but each pearl is prized as being unique and beautiful. It is this simplicity and love of life that draws me to the Tahitian Pearl and the islands of French Polynesia.

During this trip, I only spent 1 night on the island of Tahiti. I actually landed at about 7PM on Wednesday and met with a few friends for dinner before turning in for the night. Come morning, I would be catching a quick plane ride over to the island of Takaroa in the Tuamotu archipelago. This is an island that has about 1,000 residents, most of whom are pearl farmers or collectors of mollusks. Tuamotu is where many farmers choose to locate their farms due to the purity of water and the proximity to Takaroa, which is the hub for oyster collections. Due to the strength of the mollusk population in Takaroa, in a typical year, 80% of the mollusks in Tuamotu will come from this island. Because of this, many of the most respected farmers choose to locate farms in Takaroa. However, this year and last year, it is said that the collections of mollusks is down about 60% due to the warmth of the water from the La Nina weather pattern. For the sake of not driving you crazy with a 5 page story, I am going to write a series of posts about this last visit. Today, I want to give you an inside look at a typical stay in Takaroa.

Takaroa is a place that I very much love visiting for similar reasons that I love Tahiti. A visit to Takaroa, or any island outside of the main islands of French Polynesia for that matter is a unique experience in itself. These are islands where coconut trees are the main plants, rain water is collected for use, and electricity is generated from solar panels. In essence, you are taking living off of the land to a whole new level! These islands are atolls, which means they are volcanic rings that have formed naturally in the water creating a perfect lagoon (perfect for pearl culturing) in the center with only slivers of land for living space. Living in the farms is a life of careful planning, hard work, and simplicity. Leading up to my trip to Takaroa required a few weeks of planning. 2 weeks before the trip, we plan what we will need to ship over to the islands from Tahiti. Basically, if you want to eat anything aside from fish, shellfish, or coconut, it must be shipped over by boat. Honestly, everything must be shipped over including vegetables, fruit, rice, even bread! In this shipment, we will also ship over anything that we will need at the farm such as nucleuses, parts for the boats, water pumps, ropes, baskets, gas for the boat, etc. Once we land in Takaroa, we will take a boat from the airport to the house where we stay. This particular house where my friends live has a small covered house in the back to sleep, a bungalow for guests, and a kitchen. Each room is covered by a roof, but due to the heat, they are all open rooms, meaning there are only 3 walls. A typical day for us at the farms goes something like this:

4:30-6:00- Wake up to put the fish traps out and fish for lunch. 6:30- Boat leaves for the farm

6:45- 12:00- prepare farm tasks and review schedule with farm staff. Here, we will plan which lines of mollusks must be brought it from the outer waters for maintenance, harvest, and seeding as well as check on juvenile mollsuks that we are preparing for first culturing. After this is decided, we will go back out on the boat to remove lines from the deeper waters to bring back to the farm where we will work on these mollusks. Throughout this time, we will make several trips from the farm to the outer waters to dive and collect our lines. During this particular trip, we were harvesting, seeding, and working on baby mollusks that were recently collected during the collection period. Staff members will go to different areas to work on tasks such as mollusk selection, cleaning, tying mollusks to lines, seeding, harvesting, and cutting donor tissue.

12:00-1:00- Lunch

1:-3:00- More harvesting, seeding, maintenance, and diving. We will also take mollusks that have been seeded and reacquainted to the waters out to deeper waters and move mollusks that have been cultured to the waters just off of the farm. This includes juvenile mollusks that are not yet ready for culturing, which will need to be returned to the water for further growth. When we are diving, we are tying the mollusks to our lines, and working to keep them elevated and out of waters that are too cold to prevent temperature shock in the mollusks.

3:00-4:00- Cleaning and preparation for the next day. At the end of each day, we clean the room we use for pearl culturing, harvest and tissue selection. We will also clean mollusks that we will no longer use for pearl culturing so we can use the oyster meat for food (which is amazing!) or to fish with.

4:15-6:00- During this time, we typically go fish for a few hours to catch dinner, pull up the fish traps, or run errands to prepare for the evening. In the off chance that there is nothing going on, we will head back to the house to relax.

7:00- 10:00- Dinner and sleep!

The days on the farm might seem a little bit long, but as the day progresses, things move very fast! However, when I visit these islands, there is something so perfect about them. It is the natural surroundings and environment, the excitement of the harvests and culturing, and of course the friends and family that I am with while I am there! On the farm, life is simple and revolves around pearls, family, and friends. This is my paradise, and I am willing to go without things like air conditioning, running water, and even enclosed houses! However, when I return home, you definitely appreciate these things!