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All, According to those remote publishing powers, Yolanda's book Sex and the Wild Pearl will be available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc. online in about 10 days. Tom

Shell-takers Shell-takers All, One of the most egregious violaters of existing laws is a group of divers and malacologists based outside the country who come to South China Sea, pose as scientists, and sell their take of rare shells through a mechanism that disguises the origins of the...

Dianne, Just send 1 pearl, because you pay for each pearl tested. If GIA reads it as saltwater, natural, call me. Datu Dr. Tom

Hi, Dianne, Just so you can experience the process, pick a nice pearl and send it to GIA Bangkok for a report. You will learn a very great deal, not just about the pearl, but about the world of pearls and laboratories, etc. It will cost you under $200 including FEDEX. Please keep us...

Hi, Dawn, We sometimes run across old pearls with identical peeling off of a partial layer. In many natural saltwater pearls, on xray or CT, you can see lamellar rings of nacre, like in a redwood tree stump counting the years of life. I'm not sure what makes the rings, but I've always thought...

Sex and the Wild Pearl by Yolanda Ortega Stern, a.k.a. Dayang Dayang Tasmira Mandi Kiram, will be available on Amazon.com, Borders.com, etc. in about 3-6 weeks. I will post a notice once Amazon is ready. Thanks for remembering. Datu Doc

office office This is our office, half a world from here. Some days we study pearls for hours, and long into the night. The woman is from Time Magazine, in traditional garb.

Guard vessel Guard vessel Our security boat had several heavy weapons, kept out of sight. We are on our way to our island. When you wonder why natural pearls are so rare, one reason is that obtaining them is difficult and costly. These military men kept sharp eyes out for troublemakers...

Consequences Consequences All, By publicizing this I hope to discourage poachers. Note agents of the Senate joined the police. We are delighted the authorities are taking such a firm approach. Tom Manhunt launched for suspected black coral smugglersby Queenie Casimiro, ABS CBN News Zamboanga...

On Being Beneath the Surface On Being Beneath the Surface For me, a SCUBA diver and pearl-lover, the loss of our planet's coral reefs is profoundly sad. Just a few weeks ago, I swam about a coral reef in the Sulu Sea where at one point perhaps 500 fingerling fish of emerald green swirled about...

Destruction of Sea Life Destruction of Sea Life All... This is what we are trying to eradicate, i.e. significant damage in the Coral Triangle. The math of only 5% remaining is seriously incorrect, but the level of alarm is right on target. No sea life=no pearls, loss of all kinds of strange...

Toward identification of unusual pearl types Toward identification of unusual pearl types All, Those do not look like any Cassis our men have found in almost identical waters to Natural's; which makes it even more interesting if we can take a look at the GIA report. I'm going to write a...

All, And since we learn this pearl comes from a Bangkok holder, that is the very lab that read my perhaps identical pearls as a Melo species. I'm just wondering. They are beautiful pearls. Tom

Steve, Is it possible to ask the holder to send you a copy of the GIA report? Thanks. Tom

Melo or P.maxima? Melo or P.maxima? All, Looking at those two pearls in the posting above, #19, please post a clear copy of the GIA report. I've had identical pearls named by labs as Melo species. Best regards, Tom

Pirates and kidnappers a definite problem, so I believe we had 11 or 12 heavy guns, plus hand guns. Also, we patrol the area for people doing dynamite fishing, which destroys the coral reefs, and we do not allow such behavior. First, we admonish them that we know from our patrol boats what they...

Caitlin, The woman was from the family of Al Mattar, very distinguished traders. Tom

Yolanda gave presents to everyone, and a fiesta began that lasted for 2 days. We slept on the sand beneath the Milky Way and a rising moon, with nary a mosquito.

Pearl Hunting 2011 Pearl Hunting 2011 We arrived at our base camp, our private island, where we met with about 100 of our fishermen. One of my chief researchers is creating some kind of YouTube video of life on our island, where seafood is so fresh and lobster and crab so plentiful. Pearls...

Pearl Hunting 2011 Pearl Hunting 2011 As Datu, I was second in command to Dayang Dayang, i.e. Princess Yolanda. We sailed more than four hours across open water, some 50 miles, and I was glad no storms came.