Again, today all you’re going to get is a little education….lol!  First off through will be a chat with Daniel on what to expect on the islands of French Polynesia.  We have seven day stops with only one sea day amongst them all.  

Port lecture on French Polynesia. Land of the Black Pearl.

The legend of Oro & the Black Pearl….look it up.

Pearls have been noted in history since 4200BC.  It was not til the 1700s did they start marketing them. 100 million pearls exported from FP. since 1985. Argonite gives base colour then calcium carbonate…..nacre for sheen.

There are 120 island and 75 atolls of which are inhabited.  Most in Tahiti.  5 different groups…..Marqueses, Society Islands, the Austral Islands, the Gambier Islands, and the Tuamotu Archipelago. Bora bora was originally a separate country. French is only official language 

Now pearls are mostly farmed organically. How to massage an oyster….lol! Choosing a Pearl:-Colour,….peacock, blue or green. The sizes range 9-14 mm. Rating value depends on the purity of the surface. Brilliance. & Shape.. (irregular are baroque).

Uturoa…on Raiatea

There is hiking, boat trip, kayak on river, Pearl farm

Bora Bora(1st born of the gods)

Rent a car, Bora bora beach

Huahine, is 2 islands

Beaches, blue-eyed eeels….2 metres in lengths, Le truck…very bumpy

Mo’orea

More spectacularly ….beach in ne side …..rest are private

Tahiti….Papeete

Gaugin museum, Pearl museum

Fakarava

Beach…UNESCO biosphere 

Marine mammals & Sea Turtles of French Polynesia….by Isabelle Groc

16 species cetaceans….spinner dolphin, rough toothed dolphin,common bottle nosed dolphin, melon headed whales 

Marquesas the land of men…world heritage street…June 2024…”sea of dolphins”

Humpbacks is first mother/calf pair in July 2019. They are the only baleen whales species to come here to mate.

Spinner dolphins are here year round …160 spinners….up to 7 times in the air. Use shallows to rest.   

Orcas  in Marquesas after humpbacks, 

Bottle nosed in Tuamotu

A bottle-nosed mother dolphin with a youngster of her own, adopted a one month old melon-headed whale and cared for it for 3 years.  The melon-headed acquired the behaviour of bottle-nosed dolphins.

Turtles..

Green sea turtles(from eating algae)   Nesting in Tetiaroa Atoll…..protected site. and hawksbill turtles….can tell by shape of the head…pointy

Approx 1000 nesting females annually.  Travel over 300 kms…can live up to 100years…can lay 1000 eggs over that period. Take 50-80 days to hatch.  Takes 30 min to hour to dig a nest.  50- 80 cms deep. Sometimes baby turtles get stuck in nest(3000).  Researchers when investigating the nests after they leave, rescue them. Yellow eggs happens if exposed to too much humidity. They can nest up to 7 times per season.  If the temperatures is too high it can produce way more females …as does plastics.

Some of those that are rescued are put in Baby Box…..taken to Intercontinental Hotel in Tahiti to Sea Turtle Clinic.  Most are released if they can survive ….some cannot like the blind one whose eyes were speared in both eyes. They like to be massaged. They recognize their feeders. 50% of hatchlings are released after ….up to 12months.

Over 800 sea turtles identified in French Polynesia.