The Pearls of Kuri Bay

Today’s excursion was a change of pace. We were given the opportunity to tour an outpost of the pearling industry. Pearling in the Kimberley began with the aborigines. The first Europeans arrived in the 1860’s to exploit the abundance of pearl oysters, the large-shelled pinctada, which produces large, high quality pearls. The locals tend to refer to the entire animal as a pearl. Hence, so will I unless my descriptions get confusing. (No comments about all my descriptions being confusing. 😁) It was not until the 1880’s that the industry became well established, centered on the town of Broome. Isolated Kuri Bay was and remains a particularly abundant site of pearls. However, until the late 1950’s, harvesting the animals produced only an occasional pearl (only one in a thousand). The primary product was the shell, commonly called mother of pearl. Mother of pearl was used for buttons, jewelry, inlays, and other ornamentation. At its peak, the Kimberley area, despite its remoteness and frequently hostile environment, accounted for 75% of the world’s pearling production.

In the early 1950s, the industry collapsed, due both to over-harvesting and by the introduction of plastic for buttons and other uses that displaced mother of pearl. Later that decade, the Japanese developed techniques for cultured pearls, which revitalized the industry. There have been ups and downs since, but with quotas on the number of pearls harvested and other improvements, pearling is back and thriving.

Our visit was to the Kuri Bay facility of the Paspaley Pearling Company, operating (with third generation ownership) since the 1930’s. There are about 40 personnel in Kuri Bay. Access is only by sea or seaplane. There are no others around, beyond perhaps a few aborigines. The few attempts at farming and ranching have failed due to the area's hostile environment (from poisonous and venomous plants and animals to cyclones). The wonderful weather we have enjoyed has hidden these extremes from us.

Photos I took from a hilltop above the settlement.

As we docked the tide was out and we were barely able to land at the end of the dock. Two hours later, all the moored boats were afloat.

We took a guided walk around the facility and the adjacent hill.

Right: lodging for the workers.

The pearling operation goes on all but three days a year. Employees work four weeks without break and then have two weeks off. They are transported between Kuri Bay and Darwin or Broome twice a week by the company’s seaplanes. Seaplane rides were offered to us, but we passed on the opportunity. They were far from free.

Back to the pearling operation. It’s not an easy process. Pearls (the complete animals) are collected by divers being pulled along by eight ropes trailing a slowly moving craft. Air is supplied from the boat. The more pearls collected, the more the diver earns. It is exhausting work but not nearly the grueling experience the divers in hard hat suits once experienced with a whole day underwater. Air for the divers was hand pumped from the boats until the early 1900’s. It is estimated that 10 to 25 percent of these deep sea diver died from the bends and related problems. In 1910 the U.S. Navy issued, for the world, dive tables to be used to avoid the bends, but for many years this guidance was ignored by the industry.

Photos of photos of the pearl collection process. The boats pull eight divers at once.

Once the pearls are collected, they are cleaned, seeded with a bead made from a Mississippi muscle shell (for some chemically desirable reason) and placed in racks in the sea to grow and mature. The pearls are raised, cleaned and returned to the ocean every three weeks. When three years have passed, the pearls are removed from the racks and opened. 30% of the pearls are near perfect spheres, a percentage the pearlers are always trying to raise. The rest of the animal is not wasted. The pearl meat is considered a delicacy, tasting similar to abalone, and the market for the shell (mother of pearl) is again growing. We tasted ceviche of pearl meat and it was delicious.

Our guide, who was excellent—and who loves the pearling lifestyle—opens a fresh pearl shell. His family lives in Darwin.

The pearl we found was nicely round. Shape is but one of five grading criteria, the most important being luster.

This legacy phone booth was the only non-radio contact for employees with the outside world until wifi and other modern communications. Middle: “Our” pearl, but we could not keep it. Right: Pearl meat ceviche.

I thought I would include here the statistics for our passengers’ nationalities. We are told most Seabourn cruises have a large majority of Americans as passengers. This cruise, being relatively short and with an all-Australian itinerary, is an exception.

AUSTRALIA 177

BELGIUM 6

HONG KONG 2

NEW ZEALAND 12

SWITZERLAND 2

UNITED KINGDOM 5

UNITED STATES 44

As for the crew, more than 30 countries are represented.

Late in the afternoon whales were spotted off the bow. We could observe them from our veranda. Brian’s photos of the event were much better than mine, so I will use his.

On our return to our suite, we were greeted by an over-the-top towel creation, and outside we enjoyed another beautiful sunset.

We ate in the sushi bar that evening. Meanwhile, the McKennas, not fans of much of anything out of the sea, particularly raw fish and sushi, indulged in a multi-course feast in their suite. It’s a great cruise.