Follow the "Power of Pearl" Film Crew into the outback!

[Taylor and Ahbra]

Captains on Pearling Vessels

Captains on Pearling Vessels

Every day captains of the pearling vessels deal with high expectations and have to anticipate unforeseen circumstances to make sure everyone is safe on their ship. Jim, the captain on one of the vessels in Australia, has to make sure he goes over the richest oyster beds to ensure the divers success in gathering the most shell. The divers depend on the captain everyday for their livelihood.

 

[Taylor and Ahbra]

Wicker, to answer your question about the origin of the above underwater photo of the shell, it is a still taken from a video clip.

 

[Taylor and Ahbra]

Captain Continued

Captain Continued

After the divers come up with shell it is the Captains job to run down from the wheelhouse and quickly sort all the wild shell. He decides what they will keep and what they throw back. This step will be one of the determining factors for the harvest they will have 2-3 years down the road.


In this photo one of the deckhands is pouring out the wild caught shell from one of the first divers to make it out of the water.



The Captain has to be very quick and efficient in his sort, mainly because he has to race back upstairs to the wheelhouse and steer the boat for the next dive.
He is looking for three main criteria, size, health, and age.


The ones he chooses to keep are then cleaned by every available hand on deck. (This does not exclude the film crew!)

 

[GemGeek]

There is no lack of work in pearling, for sure!

 

[Taylor and Ahbra]

Back on deck...

Back on deck...

In this photo Zack Kamen is speaking with Sandra, one of the only female divers on the ship. He is learning how to carefully place shell that have been nucleated into the nets. Even though she is a specialized diver she lends a hand to whatever task needs to be done at that moment. The shells can not be out of the water for too long, so there is always an urgency on deck.

 

[whicker]

How are you? I miss learning about the filming. Please tell us more. It is such an exciting project!

 

[Taylor and Ahbra]

How are you? I miss learning about the filming. Please tell us more. It is such an exciting project!

Apologizes everyone! Taylor and I have been on the road, but we are back now so let the posting continue!

One aspect of sustainability on a pearl farm is the "zero waste" from the harvest. After the pearl is removed from the shell everything is cleaned and then the meat is sold or eaten, the shells are exported, and the mother of pearl is used in buttons and jewelry. The remains of the animal is used as garden fertilizer or fish bait.



Yum, fresh oyster meat with a little salt and lime! I personally prefer them saut?ed in a little white wine and butter, but they can also be curried, baked, broiled, or fried. In Indonesia we had them deep fried and dunked in ketchup, oyster McNuggets




Even from a distance you can see the shine from that mother of pearl.



These shells are en route to the technicians to be harvested.

 

[BAS]

OMG, they look both delicious and gorgeous!

 

[LitGeek]

I love your posts, they are always so interesting! Those mother of pearl shells are beautiful

 

[GemGeek]

Are these photos still from Clipper? More, please!

Ah, adductor muscle sashimi!

 

[Taylor and Ahbra]

Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm

Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm

Cygnet Bay is the only land based operation we visited in Australia. It is located at the northern tip of the Dampier peninsula and the farming is done in one of the last un-touched tropical marine preserves. This is the oldest active farm in WA and has been run by the Brown family for three generations.

Tidal movement in the Kimberlys is some of the largest in the Southern hemisphere, hence the AMPHIBIOUS WATERCRAFT!
The Crew is setting out to film through the mangroves with James Brown at the helm.


These boats are called "Sealegs," because they have retractable aluminum legs, enabling the farm workers to enter the water at low tide and return during high tide.

 

[GemGeek]

Those boats are insanely cool!

 

[pattye]

Wow! Never saw boats like that before!!

 

[LitGeek]

Those boats are awesome!

 

[Katbran]

LOL ! Amazing!

 

[whicker]

Any photos of the horizontal waterfalls at Cygnet Bay? I've been on their website, in anticipation of your visit. I know you are going to have some awesome footage for the film.

 

[KAC]

These boats are called "Sealegs," because they have retractable aluminum legs, enabling the farm workers to enter the water at low tide and return during high tide.[/B]
View attachment 24636

ok I WANT one of those!

 

[Taylor and Ahbra]

As we are getting into our editing process for the film we have started to go through all of our archived material. I though everyone would really be interested in seeing some photos from the beginnings of the farms.


This first photo is of a few items salvaged from from the wheelhouse of an old Aussie pearling lugger. All the essentials for finding the best sites for shell, including the "Queen's Whiskey."



Theses are pictures from the Brown Family albums. You can see here how Cygnet Bay Pearl farm came from some very humble beginnings.


These two are from the very beginnings of building one of the Jewelmer farms in the Philippines. Some of you may be familiar with what this farm looks like presently if you were fortunate enough to have visited Flower Island, or if you have seen the sizzle for the film www.powerofpearlmovie.com.

Stay tuned, more to come!

 

[pattye]

All fascinating! Keep the pics coming!

 

[GemGeek]

I know how much work goes into your film, but hurry!