[jshepherd]

Day 3

Akira came knocking on doors at 5:00 am. Breakfast is served at 5:30 as work begins on the farm at 6:00.

With only one shower and so many members of the group in line, I decided to jump in the lagoon instead. The water felt magnificent. It was cool and clean. There is something about swimming in the tropics while the sun comes up that has always appealed to me.

Shortly after breakfast we boarded the boats once again to another side of the atoll to another part of the farm operation. There the focus was on spat collection and rearing.

Piles and piles of new and old spat collectors littered the beach. We were able to closely examine a collector as it came in and found Pinctada margaritifera in several stages of growth, as well as thousands of small Pinctada maculata, or Pipi shells. Pipi are known for the small natural pearls of cream to gold coloration, matching the brilliant color of their mother of pearl, but here they are considered a nuisance, and the far outnumber the Pinctada margaritifera on the collectors.

After our tour of the operation we each enjoyed a chilled coconut with a straw before boarding the boats for our next stop; a secluded beach where we were able to relax and swim. There were countless small black-tip sharks in the area, harmless as they are, we enjoyed getting as close to them as possible.

Crossing back over the lagoon we passed many cleaning boats that were pulling the lines of shell onto specialized cleaners. Every shell is cleaned of barnacles and other growth on a regular basis.

Arriving back at the main camp we prepared for our final lunch on the island. We spent an hour laughing and joking with Bruno, who had indeed been the perfect host.

Shortly after 1:00 pm we boarded the plane for our flight back to Papeete. We arrived exhausted, four hours later after another refueling stop on Nego-Nego atoll. The evening was at leisure so we headed back to the Sheraton.

A view of Marutea Sud during take-off
I came down for dinner shortly after and sat with Herb and Evelyn Umeda, probably the sweetest retired couple I have ever met. They are retired from the jewelry industry, but Evelyn still runs a pearl business out of their home. They really are some of the nicest people I have met in a long time, and a perfectly matched couple.