Bart Bear's Blog

This is a farm. No kidding. It might not look like a farm, but this is the sort of farm where they grow pearls. It is in the middle of the bay at Savusavu in Fiji. The bay is the flooded crater of an old volcano so the water is a bit warmer than the ocean outside and pearls grow quicker here. The only part of the farm that is above water is the wharf and the shed where the oysters are injected with the seed that will make the pearl and where they are checked and harvested later. Most of the farm is a series of long ropes with bags of oysters attached. The ropes are tied to anchor posts and are stretched out across acres of the bay, just below the tide line. Boats aren't allowed to go across the farm because their keels and propellors get tangled in the ropes and that upsets the oysters, the farmers and the boat crew. Our Captain Cook see-through boat was OK because it doesn't go very far below the water and we could drive over the farm and see everything through the glass bottom.

Labels: Captain Cook, cruising, Fiji