PEARLS AND RANGIROA

Tomorrow we arrive in French Polynesia and will remain in this region for several days.  I went to Papeete and Rangiroa in the 1990s, and for my nostalgia Tuesday will explain why.  On 21 August 2008 I said:

This all started when Paul Yuen (dean of engineering at the University of Hawaii) and I discussed with former Hawaii Governor George Ariyoshi the desirability of growing pearl oysters at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii, a legacy of George. He agreed, and was able to obtain funds from Japan to initiate the program. I traveled to Sydney, Australia to recruit to Hawaii Neil Sims, who had a good reputation in this field. Over a bottle of Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet/Shiraz, I convinced Neil, and his wife Kate, to come to Paradise.

The experiments went well, and we learned that not only could we control the growth conditions on land, but that the pearls grew at twice the rate of the traditionally cultivated version. The Governor was able to gain additional funding until the Orient market crashed, so the project was abandoned. But the attraction of growing a product that could be sold for $10 or $100/oyster, as opposed to $0.25 for just the eating type, remained in my memory. Neil went on to found a mariculture company growing and marketing Kona Kampachi, a desirable sashimi delicacy. He deserves a more complete blog posting, and someday, I'll do this.

Anyway, it occurred to me that, as we could regulate the growth conditions, why not try to produce colored pearls. Not only white and black, but what about Chinese Red and Kelly Green? Someday, perhaps, the Royal Hawaiian Rainbow Pearl Necklace could reach the marketplace.

I thus formed an international team of marine biotechnologists and marketers. Grant Burgess of Heriot-Watt University, associate editor of the Journal of Marine Biotechnology (JMB), began searching for marine algae which could provide the range of colors. Next to his office was the Scotch Professor of the country and on the other side was a biologist who held membership in the Royal and Ancient Club, which supervised over the Saint Andrews golf course structure. We usually held annual meetings in late August (the only period when the weather is halfway tolerable there) when the world’s largest arts festival is held in Edinburg. Unfortunately, Grant, who grew up in Edinburg, just moved to Newcastle, where they are allowed to do human cloning, not an interest of his, but, nevertheless intriguing with respect to Chapter 2 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity. Aside from coal, what else is there in Newcastle?

In usual attendance was Tadashi Matsunaga, former editor of the Journal of Marine Biotechnology, and a vice-president at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, who spent a sabbatical at the University of Hawaii as the first International Professor for the Blue Revolution. We also needed to use some genetic engineering to obtain the right colored pearl. Plus, Professor Matsunaga has some ideas on how to artificially grow pearls.

A few years ago, Takeo Kondo, a colleague from Nihon University, who was advising the mayor of the city of Ago in Japan, Chihiro Takeuchi, arranged for me to give a talk on colored pearls to his community. The situation was ideal, for Kokichi Mikimoto, (left) nearly a century earlier, had experimented on cultured pearls in the waters next to the hotel in Ago where I stayed. I learned that while this region was at one time the largest pearl producer, growth conditions were declining and the current owners were beginning to abandon the field. My recommendation was to bring deep ocean waters into their estuaries and initiate a new product, colored pearls.

It just so happened that several towns were consolidating into one city, Shima, so Mayor Takeuchi (right) ran against the other mayors, and had on his campaign platform a new industry in colored pearls. He barely won, it is said because he had the only new idea. My first dinner with him was an incredible French meal, the second, a classical Japanese kaiseki, the third, a teppan yaki of lobster, steak, and foie gras over bottles of bourdeaux and, on my latest visit, barbecued Matsusaka beef, said to be better (and more expensive) than Kobe beef. Matsusaka, also spelled Matsuzaka, is adjacent to Shima City. I'm trying to sell the concept to Ago/Shima, but, because of honor and territorial cultural imperative, perhaps, Mayor Takeuchi always picked up the tab. He'll love Zippy's in Hawaii, and so will Chisako, wife, communicator (she teaches English), inspiration and balance to the Mayor.

If you someday see pearls of intense hue in your jewelers, chances are that this team had something to do with the introduction. The question is whether we will be doing this using the traditional oyster farm or just a laboratory growth chamber.

Friends regularly ask me, "Pat, how's the colored pearl project developing?" My standard response is that some things take time. If anyone reading this has deep pockets and wants to become richer and more famous as the Mikimoto of next generation rainbow pearls, your legacy is a mere agreement away. Just contact me.

So you ask, what has that got to do with French Polynesia?  Well, as part of the planning process, we had to learn something about pearls, one of our staff members and I went to Papeete to attend a pearl auction, then to Rangiroa to visit a black pearl research center.  Here is another quote from a 19 June 2019 posting:

Perhaps two decades ago I was on a trip having to do with cultivating pearls and found myself on the island of Rangiroa, one of the Tahitian islands, to stay at the two-story thatched home of the laboratory director.  The first thing I noticed walking into the house was an industrial-size can of RAID.  I have never again seen anything that large.  One needs to wrap your whole arm around it to then spray with the other hand.  Sure you are familiar with the ads from South Pacific hotels,  this one above on Rangiroa, but guess what lives in the walls and roof of thatched huts?  I'll tell you:  insects and rodents.  My experience was scary, yet funny.

Another minor incident had to do with coconut crabs.

For example, in Rangiroa Tahiti, the last time I went there, the outhouse was, well, outside the house.  I had to go one night, and ran into a coconut crab.  To quote:

The coconut crabs or “Kaveu”in Tahitian, also known as “robber crabs” are the biggest terrestrial arthropod in the world! Adults of this species weigh up to 4 kg and size up to 1.3 ft. But some people say that they had observed specimens weighing more than 17 kg!

17 kg is 37.5 pounds.  They are also called robber crabs, for they get into trash cans and eat birds.  It is said that Amelia Earhart was consumed by coconut crabs.

How large is a 37.5 pound crab?  Well, see one attacking a trash can.  The Hawaii record for a Samoan Crab is a little more than 7 pounds.

One more warning about French Polynesia.  Adjacent to the thatched hut we were staying was a beach.  Like many other beaches in the region, there is a health problem.  There are tiny sand flies called no-seeums or no-nos that bite the ankles around daybreak and dusk.  Can you imagine living in the South Pacific and not being able to go to the beach at sunrise and sunset?

But the cruise goes on, and today for lunch was the Odyssey Food Festival.  Various stations on the Patio and in the Colonnade.  Not sure if this was smart, for you had to get your own food, and passing from the Patio to the Colonnade, there was a heavy door...and the ship was moving over 6 feet of surf.

The cocktail for the day was some concoction with an elderflower liqueur.

The Colonnade featured dining under the stars.

But it was still sunset.

The wines were Australian from De Bortoli, the white a semillion/sauvignon blanc, and the red a Shiraz plus.  They can be bought for around $6/bottle in Australia.  They are both excellent.

The dinner started with French Onion Soup and foie gras, followed by a prime rib and snapper.

Walked/danced 40 minutes in place as explained yesterday reaching 4076 steps.

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