The Gambiers - Pearls, Pearls, Pearls
Our first landfall in French Polynesia, a short 3-1/2 day passage from Pitcairn to the Gambiers (378 nm), was not a very pleasant one. Winds of 30-35 knots with seas to 20' and heavy rains, made the ride blustery and downright uncomfortable for two days, followed by no wind and contrary winds... all soon forgotten once we were in French Polynesia. We sighted the islands about 30 miles out. We entered the reef through the Southeast Pass, then picked our way carefully through the reef to the anchorage off Rikitea on the island of Mangareva. Then, land ho! The rugged outline of the Gambier Islands was in sight.
Gambier Facts:
Iles Gambier are the southeastern most islands in French Polynesia and are comprised of a group of about ten volcanically-formed islands and numerous small islets within a coral barrier reef.
Capital: Rikitea, on the island of Mangareva
Population: ~1,000
Currency: Cour de Franc Pacifique (CFP) 85cfp= $1US
Language: French and Mangarevan
Time: -9 GMT
High point: Mount Duff (482 M)
Guides: Lonely Planet South Pacific, Moon Tahiti, Charlie's Charts
Some Gambier History...
Originally settled from the Marquesas <1100AD
In 1797, Captain James Wilson of the London Missionary Society's ship Duff named the group for English Admiral James Gambier, a hero of the Napoleonic wars who had helped to organize and fund the expedition.
France annexed the group in 1881.
Zealot missionary priest, Father Honore Laval, arrived in 1834 and ruthlessly "converted" the islanders to Catholicism, pressed them into service building huge buildings and triumphal arches and managed to decimate the population from 9,000 to 500.
Mangareva
23S06.85 /134W58.07 (Lat and Long)
The island of Mangareva ("Floating Mountain") was so named by its original Polynesian inhabitants for the mountain that rises 482M from the sea (Mt. Duff).
The Gambier Islands in Sight
We took a bearing on the island of
Kamaka and used it to find the cut
through the reef to the lagoon.
We maneuvered our way through the slalom of
red/green markers and reefs to the anchorage just
off the little (and only) village of Rikitea
In 1837, the seaman Armand Mauruc, wanting to trade under the Gambier national flag, convinced King Maputeoa to adopt a national flag. The four blue stars in the corners of the flag represent the islands of Mangareva, Taravai, Aukena and Akamaru, whereas the central white star represents the isolated islet of Temoe. Blue stands for the ocean and white for purity and evangelization of the archipelago, which had already started in 1837.
A Gambier welcome complete with tikis! Everyone smiles and says "bonjour".
A view of the anchorage from the coast road.
How lush can you get? That's the island
of Aukena in the distance.
The island abounds in fruit trees including pamplemousse (grapefruit) which we found during our walk. Mostly we picked windfall.
With all the flowers and fruit, butterflies like the blue moon above were everywhere.
Wasps and bees were especially plentiful on the boat near the ripening bananas. They weren't aggressive, but more a nuisance. No stings were reported by the crew.
A remnant of Pere Laval, Cathedral St. Michel overlooks the town. It is in very poor condition and can no longer be used. This is the largest church/cathedral in all of French Polynesia
It seems to rain a lot here and in buckets when it comes down. When a clear, sunny day appears, we're anxious to get ashore and hike. One day we hiked up Mt. Duff and to the Belvedere Lookout. The views were spectacular; the crew was exhausted and sore, an Ibuprofen night!
With the island's population of ~1,000 people, there are only 4 or 5 magazins (mini-marts) like the one pictured above. Prices on "luxury" items are quite high (1-ltr Coke $5US, variety pack of Kelloggs cereal $10US), but on subsidized staples (e.g. flour, rice, sugar), quite reasonable. Eggs are at a premium, however, at 75 cents each and fresh veggies are like gold.
Remoras swim around the boat waiting for scraps and the jellyfish are thick. We've not seen sharks, but we're told there are black tip, white tip and lemon sharks among others in the area.
Didier "Fritz" Schmack, a German and former French Foreign Legionnaire, has lived in Rikitea for 37 years. He provides several cruiser services including use of his washing machine and clotheslines (for a fee or a bottle of rum), free fresh water fill up, sells telephone cards and is the TransOcean host (German cruising club).
While I was doing a bottle of rum's worth of laundry, Fritz generously allowed David to use his workshop to fabricate a replacement engine bracket support.
Use of his workbench, vise and electricity made the job go much easier and faster, but required an extra bottle of rum.
A Walk Around the Island…
Mangareva is the largest island in the Gambier group. The distance around is about 24 km. After being on the boat for several days because of heavy rains and wind, it felt good to get out and stretch our legs a bit. We were at the dinghy dock at 0730 on a bright, sunny clear morning with plenty of water and snacks to get us through our explorations. All in all a great day, but 8 hours of walking... whew!
The dink dock is safe and secure, located at a small pier where some of the local boats tie up as well. Throughout the island, there are the remains of stone houses like the one above which is located across from the dink dock.
The dirt road around the island was rough and potholed... sometimes close to the water and lined with palms and other times we climbed up, up, up through thick forested areas buzzing with the sound of wasps.
Beautiful man-made inner lagoon with Mt. Duff in the background.
A kivikivi poses briefly on a rock
A Pacific reef-heron rests on a palm frond.
A feral, tree-climbing, banana-eating chicken referred to here as jungle fowl.
St. Joseph's Chapel on the north side of the island is still in use.
Foundation and wall of an old stone building is all that remains of times gone-by. Thatch roofs have fallen in and nature is reclaiming her own.
The island is lush and verdant, heavy with the fragrance of flowers and fruits
Visiting a Pearl Farm…
We are blessed and fortunate to continually meet local people who are generous with their time, their knowledge and their hospitality. These are not people who make their living on tourists, but rather folks who genuinely seem to enjoy sharing their culture and way of life with visitors. We are so often overwhelmed and though we try, we feel at a loss to repay the generosity and kindnesses extended to us. Sharing these chance encounters with others is one way of letting our new friends know just how wonderful our experiences were... because of them.
On Mangareva, we met "Dada", a pearl farmer. He offered to take us to his pearl farm for a tour one morning and picked us up around 0900 on shore for a 20 minute ride via truck to a waiting launch which took us to his pearl farm. The Australian boat "Reality" had made the initial contact and we were lucky enough to tag along. To the right, Dada, Vanessa, Colin and David pose quickly before heading off in the launch to the pearl farm.
We had seen many pearl farms from a distance, but had no idea what they were like inside and what the process involved.
The process is long and involved, requiring some two years to raise the oysters. Above, seeded oysters are brought to the farm for cleaning and harvesting.
Every two months, the oysters are hauled and cleaned. They need sunlight to produce good, colorful pearls.
Those that will be harvested are opened
slightly with a knife and wedged open.
Dada looked like a surgeon as he prepared to harvest a pearl. Once harvested, a good pearl-producer can be reseeded.
Dada was infinitely patient explaining the process while performing the delicate procedures of harvest and reseed.
Dada extracts a beautiful black pearl... birth of a pearl before our eyes. The colors of pearls have sometimes been associated with certain qualities: black or gold with wealth, blue with love, white with purity and pink with success.
Then the ultimate experience..."Do you want to try?" asked Dada. Wow!
The Results of David’s efforts!
Each of us in turn had a chance to harvest a pearl (not all that difficult) and reseed a pearl (very, very difficult).
Colin cleans the oysters that we tried to reseed...we were 0 for 4!
Once washed and/or reseeded, the oysters are tied again into nets and put back in the water about 3-5 meters below the surface. David helps tying oysters for their return trip to the water. We returned to the boat late in the day, exhilarated and overwhelmed with our experience and the generosity extended to us by Dada.
Pearls are the oldest known gem and for centuries were considered the most valuable. The best "black pearls" aren't really just black in color. Viewed in the sunlight, they have a green, blue, rose, yellow, and/or grey sheen… only a few are actually black. The name black pearl derives from the giant black-lipped oyster (Pinctada margaritifera) which produce the pearls.
Pearls in history and myth...
In Hindu culture, pearls were associated with the Moon and were symbols of love and purity. Hindu texts say that Krishna discovered the first pearl which he presented to his daughter on her wedding day.
Christianity also adopted the pearl as a symbol of purity. For example, pearls are often associated with brides and weddings. Pearls are also said to symbolize tears, to provide love and fertility, to symbolize purity and to ward off evil.
The ancient Chinese believed that pearls were conceived in the brains of dragons. In imperial China, the natural black pearl was regarded as a symbol of wisdom. As such, it was guarded between the teeth of a dragon, which had to be slain before the pearl could
be taken.Reportedly, Cleopatra dissolved a single pearl in a glass of wine and drank it, simply to win a wager with Marc Anthony that she could consume the wealth of an entire country in just one meal.
The sound of drums...
We had heard drumming on several evenings and asked Dada about it. He said that many members of the community, including he and his wife Raruna, were involved in a local dancing troupe that were practicing for a traditional dance presentation in Tahiti in June. We went and watched the practice several times. Intricate, complicated moves performed with precision. When we heard drumming one early afternoon however, we didn't know what it meant and Vanessa and I went ashore to investigate.
Even the tiniest little girl had a pandanus grass skirt.
Later, we chanced upon the grave in the cemetery covered in flowers and pandanus skirts worn by the dancers during the funeral ceremony.
The drumming this time signified a sad day on the island. Dada explained that two older residents, a sister and brother, had died within hours of each other. The drumming was a call to the community signalling the funeral Mass. The dancers and priest waited for the caskets and then accompanied them solemnly into the makeshift church for the Mass celebration.
Taravai - 23S08.94 / 135W01.32 (Lat and Long)
After nearly three weeks here, it was time to move on. Finally, a weather window with S/SE/ESE winds forecast and we planned to take advantage of it. Saying goodbye is always hard, but we hugged Dada goodbye and made the rounds of the cruisers we'd met. Time to go...or is it? We moved out of the anchorage at Rikitea and positioned ourselves off the little island of Taravai planning an early departure the next morning. No sooner were we anchored, then a handsome fellow zoomed out in his skiff and suggested a better place to anchor and an invitation to visit his home, meet his family and take on some fresh fruit . How could we pass that up?
Lovely St. Gabriel's church on approach to Taravai
Valerie & Herve Tuihani were our friendly hosts while visiting Taravai. True to his word, Herve gave us lots of pamplemousse, banana, limes, avocadoes, oranges and even sweet potatoes from his garden. We so enjoyed their company, we invited them aboard Cups for pizza that night.
St. Gabriel's looked much better than the cathedral in Rikitea. In fact, Herve was its caretaker and did a splendid job.
Six year old, Alan, displays his coconut-
hull, palm-sailed boat. Valerie home
schools him and she's doing a good job.
He can read, write and speaks both
French and English quite fluently
At the store...
For cruisers following in our wake, here's some idea of food availability and costs in Rikitea. Prices are approximate and in US$.
Potatoes (kg): $1.75
Beer (.5L): $3.50
Carrots (kg): $3.50
Canned ham (1 lb): $9.50
Cabbage (kg): $4.50
Box wine (ltr): $10
Tomatoes (kg): $8.50
Bottle wine (750ml): $15
Brown sugar(kg): $4.50
Fresh bread: $4.50/loaf
White sugar(kg): $1.65
Pan au chocolat(ea): $1.65
Olive oil (.5L): $18
Small bag chips: $2.50
UHT milk (ltr): $1.25
Cocktail Peanuts: $2.50
Flour (1kg): $1.65
Pork & Beans: $1.00
Eggs (each): 75 cents
Tomato sauce(8oz): $1.45
NZ cheese (8oz): $1.75
Cigarettes (pack/20): $8.50
NZ Butter(500g): $2.50
Nescafe coffee: $7.50 (170gram)
Our next stop...
Archipel des Tuamotus... the Dangerous Islands! We can tell you first-hand why that is a very apropos name . Come see them with us.
s/y Nine of Cups 2009