Snorkel

We were surprised to see how long Cory was willing to snorkel and that Mya swam in the waves with us. Those oysters must be even more interesting than we thought.

Pearl Farm II

After looking at the oyster lines, we moved to the wreck where our retired demo became fish food. We never did find out exactly why the giant clams were there but great to see more efforts to keep the species alive.

Dolphins

Stop the tour! Mikil has spotted dolphins! At least 20 of them Cory was so sad they weren't slow enough for him to jump out and swim with them.

Boat Kids

You'd think our kids grew up on a boat or something. Our guide Aaron called them boat kids right away! Cory helped Mikil look for rocks (and there were many) and Mya really enjoyed going at 30mph.

Pearl Farm, Matei, Taveuni, Fiji

We always knew oysters were complicated, but farming black pearls is a job for very patient people. This family has about 700 oysters and are working toward 5 000. They buy black lipped oysters according to the most popular colours. These come from other farms in Fiji. They also breed their own and catch the spawn but there are a lot of creatures out there waiting to eat the babies too. The oysters are grown to size and then starved. They are starved so that they are easier to open. Expert grafters are brought in from the Cook Islands each year to place the nucleus inside. The nuclei are placed in the gonads to help stomp them from rolling out since the purpose of a pearl is to coat the irritant and help roll it out of the oysters body. The round nuclei are made from broken up oyster shell and are purchased from Australia. This helps get round pearls and decreases the time to grow them. As it is, they grow for 18 months.
The little house is the pearl house. Apparently natural light is the best way to embed the nucleus. If the pearl doesn't grow the first time, the oyster is retired. A retired oyster is used for our demonstration. See the shrimp inside? Cory got to pull out the pearl from this one too.
If the oyster grows a pearl it gets a bigger nucleus the next round. They generally implant oysters 3 times. We think there must be a whole lot of record keeping for this venture.
There's also a whole lot of learning by feel...someone can teach you the mechanics of grafting but you really need to have that special touch to convince the oyster to turn into a black beauty for you. The owner did a lot of self study learning how to turn them into jewelery too. In between homeschooling...she does that too. Her middle son gets the morning off to help his brother take out people like us. You should see that kid drive a boat!

Snack with a View, Matei, Taveuni, Fiji

Some tiny rocky islands made for a nice kayak and climb to have snack. The herons seemed to enjoy our company too.

Cory Pulls Mya

Hanging Around

Sandpaper Continents

Mya is colouring the continents. She asked Cory for some help with the water...there's a lot of water out there. Next she gets sand outlines to get the feel for the shape. We may not have room for all the Montessori geography puzzles but we can do it our way too.

Viani Bay, Vanua Levu, Fiji

Teething

Cone Shell

There were lots of these near the little islands in Fawn Harbour. A great reason to wear reef shoes...cone shells are poisonous.