My Visit to Atlas Pearl farm in Bali

Red, I love your story telling and photos! I can't wait to hear more of your lovely trip!
 
Red, what a fabulous trip! I'm enjoying your photos and can't wait to see more! It looks like such a magical place!
 
Thank you baby nurse, jshepherd, Pearl Dreamer, JerseyPearl, CathyKeshi, Sanippy, Katbran, GemGeek, pattye, Abi, SunSeeker, and BWeaves.

Yes, the view from the bungalow was amazing. This photo from the lounger on the porch is now my wallpaper on my cellphone. I just loved the two statues guarding my entrance. The Balinese have a talent for carving and decoration.

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We were up bright and early on Pearl Farm visit day. Partly due to excitement and partly due to the wonders of jet lag. The farm is about a 10 minute drive from the hotel, and we left an hour for travel, so we were way early. They weren't ready for us quite yet, so we got to look around the shoreline and the gift shop. The gift shop at the farm is on the second story and is open air.

Standing at the shore of the Atlas Pearl farm and panning from left to right. That is Apong and me near the steps to the gift shop in the fourth photo.


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Upstairs to look around at the gift shop while we were waiting for the boat to take us out to visit the workers on the Pearl Farm itself.

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Might as well check out the merchandise.
 

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Trying on a necklace/bracelet. I liked this design.
 

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Still chilling.

The clerks in the shop were local ladies who had worked there for years. And, of course, they wore beautiful Atlas SS pearls.

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Ooooo I'm jealous with you, Red... If I could go back to Bali, I'd go to Ubud for its paddy fields again...
 
Finally, Nickolas, the Frenchman manager, was ready for us. The seas were not completely calm, but they were good enough for their workers to be working that day. And, safe enough for us to go see what they were doing. Life jackets on, we headed out onto the pier.

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Here is a look back at the shore from the end of the pier.

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Another photo of shore.

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This shot is of the direction that we will be heading towards the farm.

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The end of the pier. Clearly, this is a working farm.

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The tide was coming in and there was no way I was going to keep my feet dry. Shoes off, I am finally settled in the boat.

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Nickolas heads around to untie the boat.

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And, we cast off. Check the water on the lower bit of pier that we used to get into the boat. It is currently an inch or two deep. It would be more like six inches deep when we returned.

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We head out to the farm. Now we are in amongst the rows of buoys.

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Nickolas explains the farm operation while I capture him on Go Pro. Many thanks to my husband, Dan, for these still photos.

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The farm workers are scattered around the farm in various boats.

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This is the first boat we will visit. Note how clear the water is. As Nickolas will explain, this is both a positive and and negative.

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This farm is the breeder farm. The workers care for the young oysters until they are older, when they are transferred to other farms owned by Atlas in order to grow to maturity. The workers are going along the line and pulling up the containers of very young oysters in order to clean them. Nickolas explained to us, that if they are not cleaned periodically, the young oysters will starve. You can see the workers are working like an assembly line, with workers pulling the containers out of the water, removing the protective netting, then passing it down to the woman on the end who spray cleans the oysters.

These are very small oysters, and they are clustered together in rows. As well as cleaning the young oysters, the workers are also checking the long lines to be sure that they aren't broken or in need of repair.

I should add here that we were so excited and privileged to be able to view the operation of the farm up close like this. We are well aware that this is a special treat from Atlas pearl that is not afforded to regular visitors to the farm.


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We motored over to the next boatload of workers.

As the young oysters shown in the previous photos grow, they eventually need more space.

These workers are cleaning slightly older oysters. The oysters are no longer clustered together in rows, but each baby oyster has been put into a separate pocket of its own. You can see the rows of pockets of baby oysters. The workers are again putting up the containers and cleaning the oysters with a pressure water spray. You can see the containers hanging off the lines in the clear water in the last picture.

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When the oysters are about 5-6 centimeters, they are attached on trays like these. At our request, a worker brings the oysters over so we can get some good pictures.

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