Pearls in the Cook Islands

[kiwipaul]

Back from the tropical delights of Rarotonga. White sands, warm water, and good NZ wine in the supermarkets much cheaper than I expected.

It is a really delightful place to kick back and do not much. Snorkeling the lagoon and sun-bathing are highly recommended activities.

Our resort had very flaky internet and it wasn't till last couple of days that I got back on line with a very reasonably priced 3G sim card from Telecom Cook Is.

Rarotonga (main island of Cook Islands group) is a pretty sleepy place with a population of just 13,000.

Tourism is the main industry and locally cultured black pearls are popular souvenirs for tourists.

However this market is pretty much directed towards selling fairly average quality product to undiscerning punters. Prices are quite high, and there seemed to be little in the way of certification that the pearls are locally produced.

I trekked around half a dozen pearl shops one day in the main town Avarua and tried to engage in conversation about Cook Is pearls and particularly Tongareva poe pipi pearls.

In most shops the fairly indifferent sales staff lost interest in me almost immediately once they realised I was not there to spend lots of money, and got quite cagey when I attempted to discuss the origins of their pearls.

However I was able to establish that poe pipi pearls are not commercially available at all. No shops had them on display, and the only retailer who acknowledged their existence was Bergman & Sons, by far the most up-market establishment in town.

They had quality pearl jewelry with prices to match, and were genuine about the sources of their pearls, their nicest pieces were cultureds from outside the Cooks.

I could have made an appointment to meet with Ben Bergman, however the shop manager was qualifying me pretty quickly about what my budget was, and again lost interest once she realised I didn't want to buy, which of course was quite understandable.

I was told by several people that virtually no pipi pearls are coming out of Tongareva, and any now being found are kept by locals in recognition that they're a disappearing resource. Pollution was mentioned a few times as a reason for their scarcity.

I'm sure if I had several thousand dollars to spend and the time to haggle I could have located some pipi pearls, however the people who have them, like the Bergmans, want to add value by making up finished jewelry, again perfectly understandable.

So in conclusion don't expect to buy pipi pearls in Cook Is unless you have deep pockets and time on your hands.

 

[GemGeek]

Interesting report. It's suspected that the Cooks are a prime smuggling destination for Taitian pearls that won't pass the nacre thickness inspection in French Polynesia.

By the way, I love New Zealand wines!

 

[kiwipaul]

Hi GemGeek, quite possible, there is a direct return flight between Rarotonga and Papeete (closest part of French Polynesia, next to Tahiti) once a week.

The hotel gift shops have reasonable sized "genuine black pearl earrings" permanently on sale at "90% off!" prices around $25 to $50 a pair, which are of course dyed Chinese FW's.

 

[GemGeek]

Who doesn't love a sale?

I was thinking private aircraft, but you never know. Maybe they move them by boat...

 

[MSC]

Really interesting report, Paul. I think my favorite part was the snorkeling in the lagoon bit

 

[pattye]

Thank you for that juicy report, Paul.

 

[kiwipaul]

A few more comments on Rarotonga to add some perspective.

It is very, very safe. There is no political or racial tension at all. No Terrorism. No Military, and the police don't carry guns.
That is a rare thing today in the era of Bali bombings and Fiji coups, and means it's an ideal destination for a family holiday.

It's a small island. You can drive right around it on the rickety ring road in 45 mins, (at the speed limit of 30mph, 50km/hr).
Even though it's small, the population density is still very low with just 13,000 people.

Compare this with the population of Fiji which has around 850,000 people, or Bali at 4.2 million.

I thought about GemGeek's suggestion that the Cook Is are a prime smuggling destination for low grade Tahitian pearls.
The counter to this is that tourism numbers to the Cook Is aren't high enough to absorb much product.

However the Cooks could be a staging post to places like Fiji and Bali, which have far higher visitor numbers.

 

[Caitlin]

However the Cooks could be a staging post

If you can imagine it, you are probably reinventing the wheel. LOL

The very second Tahiti decided to destroy parts of people's crops, a black market sprang up. You can't make something illegal, then expect 100% compliance. It has never happened. Every pearl that gets destroyed is less money for the owners. Think pot, even with the billions and trillions poured into stopping it, it just grows.

What is probably amazing is the actual rate of compliance in Tahiti as far as pearls go- probably more than for pot, LOL