Where am I right now??

Some people asked me where I am at the moment. So I made a cool video to show exactly where I am. Check it out!

   

As you can see I am staying in an Overwater Bungalow in Moorea (short ferry ride from Tahiti).

It was expensive, possibly the most expensive hotel I've ever stayed in! But you have to splurge once in a while, right?

Here is what it looks like inside:

Inside the overwater bungalow

Glass coffee table over a glass panel in the floor through which you can see fish swimming underneath your bungalow. It came with a complimentary bottle of wine

Want to go for a swim?  Just step outside the door and jump in!

This group played my request, my favorite Hawaiian song: Wahine Ilikea

Heiva i Tahiti

Heiva ("hay va") is the Polynesian word for an annual festival, which takes place over several days or weeks, and includes many different competitive events such as singing, cooking, fishing, costume making, etc. But the biggest events by far are the Polynesian tradition dances. These are grand scale competitive performances with up to 200 performers in each group consisting of male and female dancers, percussion orchestra, and singers. They prepare the entire year for the final performances and compete for the Grand Prize!

I'm a big fan of Polynesian dance, having seen it many times before. 

Here is a video from this year's Heiva showing the scale of the performances:

        Heiva Group Performance Video

The Best Female Dancer for 2024 was Ai'e Manuel. See her performance.  I met her after the performance and she graciously posed for a picture.  She is beautiful and amazing!

Aie Manuel, Best Female Dancer 2024

The Best Male Dancer for 2024 was Noah Mendelsohn. See his performance.

Dinner Show at the Intercontinental

A pigducken?

When I arrived in Tahiti I heard about a dinner show Thursday night at the Hotel Intercontinental. I didn't have anything else planned for that evening so I went.  Tickets were fairly expensive at $100 for the buffet dinner and the Polynesian dance show, but as I would learn everything is expensive in Tahiti!

Dessert. Why eat only one?

There was a fairly elaborate buffet with many selections of meat, fish, salads, and desserts. There were many dishes made with breadfruit, a common fruit on the islands.

The show was OK. These types of shows tend to be very tourist oriented, which is not really my style. But I still enjoyed it. The buffet was quite good but not worth $100. 

The empty stage before the show. To the right is the bar where you can watch the show for free.

Here's a pro tip:  skip the buffet and go have drinks at the bar which is also outside right next to the restaurant and the stage. There you can enjoy the show for free!  The view is a little farther and to the side but you can still get a good view of the show.

How to Beat the Curse of the Black Pearl

In the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Captain Jack Sparrow had to defeat a lot of pirates to beat the curse of the Black Pearl.

In this blog post I will tell you all about the real black pearls, and give some tips on buying them. And you won't have to fight any pirates!

Black pearls are a rare and exotic type of pearl that are highly prized for their beauty and rarity. There are a few types of black pearls but the Tahitian black pearls are considered to be the most valuable and sought-after.

Black pearls are known for their unique characteristics, including:

• Color: Black pearls can have a range of colors, from dark gray to deep blue, green, and purple.
• Iridescence: Black pearls are known for their iridescent sheen, which is caused by the way the light reflects off the layers of nacre.
• Luster: Black pearls have a high luster, which is caused by the smooth, even layers of nacre.
• Rarity: Black pearls are rare and highly sought after, making them a valuable and coveted gemstone.

Tahitian black pearl

Pearls in general are made when a small irritant, such as a grain of sand, finds its way inside an oyster or mollusk. To protect itself from this irritant, the mollusk secretes layers of nacre, a substance also known as mother of pearl, around the irritant. This process can take many years to form a pearl.

Contrary to popular belief, black pearls are not formed by inserting a grain of black sand into the oyster. Rather the color is determined by the type of oyster. Tahitian black pearls come from the black-lipped pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera). Though they are referred to in the market a Tahitian pearls but in reality they come from other islands in French Polynesia such as Mangareva in the Gambier group.

Multi-colored black pearls

The cost of a Tahitian black pearl varies very widely from less than a dollar to thousands of dollars. What's the difference between a $1 pearl and $1000 pearl?  Here are the factors that can affect the price of a pearl:

• Size - generally, bigger means more expsensive
• Shape and Symmetry - spherical ones tend to be worth more than elongated ones
• Iridescence - the shinier and more sparkling ones are more valuable
• Smoothness - ones without dents or dimples cost more
• Color(s) - black pearls with a high level of luster and a deep, dark color are considered more valuable.

If you're interested in purchasing jewelry with black pearls in Tahiti, here is what I've found to be the best strategy:  Buy the raw pearls from the source on Mangareva where you can get them at close to wholesale prices, especially if you buy many at a time. Choose carefully based on the qualities that are important to you: color, symmetry, shine, smoothness, and size. Then bring them to Papeete where there are a ton of jewelers (so more competition) to have them strung or mounted as you like.

If you opt for very fine high value black pearls this will cost you thousands of dollars. I opted for the other extreme to get some small souvenirs for people. I used the above strategy to get two necklaces and two bracelets custom made, each with 3 or 4 black pearls. My total cost was only $50!

I bought my pearls directly from a pearl farmer on Mangareva. We chatted with him for a long time, and he told us a sad story about how his brother died from radiation sickness from the fallout from the nuclear testing France had done on a nearby island. I bought six small black pearls from him. Somehow he took a liking to me and ended up giving me 7 more pearls for free!  So I had a lucky 13 black pearls. I took them to jeweler on Mangareva to make them into necklaces and bracelets but he didn't have fine enough tools to drill a hole in my little pearls. He suggested I take them to a jeweler in Tahiti where they have better equipment, and that's what I did.

Pizza From A Machine

I was walking around Papeete around 11 pm, starving. Absolutely everything was closed.  I checked Google Maps and it said one pizza place was open, so I headed there. When I got there there was no restaurant! What there was, was a large metal box.  I looked more closely and it was a giant vending machine!  I've never seen a vending machine for pizza before, not even in Japan where they have vending machines for everything! It had a touch screen where you selected the type of pizza and then asked for payment with a credit card or cash. It promised to give the pizza in 3 minutes. Pizza from a vending machine?  In 3 minutes?  How bad is this going to be?? 

Pizza Vending Machine

Well I was hungry so I went for it. It did indeed produce the pizza in 3 minutes in a 10" pizza box, and it was piping hot!  It was so hot it was difficult to hold it even through the box.

Edible pizza

I'll bet you're dying to find out how the pizza was.  Well, it was... edible. Not the best pizza I've ever had (but still better than Domino's!).  Along with some red wine it hit the spot.

Mangareva - The End of the Voyage (But Not The Journey)

 

We arrived in Mangareva today. Unlike in Pitcairn and Rapa Nui, the ship was able to dock directly to the pier, as it's in a large protected lagoon.

This marks the end of the sea voyage part of the trip, but far frome the end of the journey!  I will disembark from the ship and continue on my own -- I don't yet know for how long. I will just play it by ear until I decide it's time to go home.

Mangareva is part of the Gambier group of islands in French Polynesia and the most remote group. It's a 4 hour flight from here to Tahiti! It's fairly sparsely populated with less than 1500 people on the island.  Very few tourists, no big resorts, only a few small markets in the main town of Rikitea. The main export here seems to be the famous black pearls. Though often marketed as "Tahitian pearls" they really come mainly from here in the Gambiers. This is the largest island in the Gambiers and it's ringed by an atoll creating a large lagoon with 4 other islands: Taravai, Aukena, Akamaru, Temoe. The airport itself is not on any island but rather on the atoll!

On the last night aboard, the ship hosted a Disco party with Grant as DJ spinning 80s music.  There were laser lights and even a smoke machine!

Disco party aboard the ship!

There is internet here but it's very poor quality since it's run by the French government. But it's about to get a LOT better!  The lodge I stayed at had requested two of the passengers to bring a couple of Starlink kits with them from the USA, which they did!  Using a Starlink is the best way to get high speed internet here, and it works very well (although technically illegal). Looking around the houses on the island we spotted several Starlink antennas.

Cathedral in Mangareva.
Thousands of Polynesians were killed during the construction of this church.

Goodbye Charlie, you will be missed. Even on Pitcairn Island!

Charles Mattheson Love was an learned geologist, esteemed anthropologist, intrepid explorer, vivid storyteller, all-around great guy, and my friend. I had lost touch with him in recent years and meant to reconnect with him. Now I will never get that chance again. I was saddened to learn that he had passed away last month at the age of 80. His obituary.

I thought back to the times I had spent with him, the wonderful and remote places around the world that I had traveled to with him, and the numerous fascinating stories he told -- many of which relate directly to this great voyage I am currently on. Charlie was a great storyteller; he had a way with words that brought to life the story he was telling so as to make you feel you were actually there.

I first heard of Charlie Love on my first trip to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) when I ran into some associates of his. I mentioned my fascination with the island and my desire to solve its great mysteries. They said, "Well then you should meet Charlie. He's a scientist currently doing research on the island. He has many of the answers you seek." I then desperately wanted to meet him and we even tried to set up a meeting but due to time constraints I was not able to meet him that time.

I did meet him later that year at the university in Wyoming where he was a professor and joined him on a geology tour of the Midwest, covering Utah, Wyoming, and ending in Yellowstone National Park and Montana. During this trip I got to know him, his intellectual acumen, and his storytelling skills.

Later I accompanied him on a trip to Peru, exploring the Inca civilization at Machu Picchu, and the much older civilization at Caral.

Finally I did another trip to Easter Island with Charlie. Charlie had already done much research on the geology of Easter Island and was well known to many of the islanders.  Have you heard that Easter Island had many trees in the past? It was Charlie who first made that ground-breaking discovery. This time he was leading a tour group on the island.  During the day would would explore some part of the island and the moai, and in the evenings I would sit with Charlie and discuss the theories of the mysteries of Easter Island, or listen to one of his many stories. By this time I had developed my own theories, which overlapped with Charlie's theories in some areas, but disagreed in others. In particular our theories differed markedly in the details of the method of transport of the gigantic moai statues[1].

Once I mentioned to Charlie that I wanted to visit Pitcairn Island and he said "I've been to Pitcairn but it was under less than happy circumstances." He then went on to tell his story. It took place many years ago, perhaps 20 or 30 years back. He had been working on Easter Island doing research there.  After he was done he boarded a small sailboat heading to Tahiti, which would be a several week voyage. However soon after setting sail he fell seriously ill, perhaps a stomach virus, I'm not sure.  After several days instead of recovering he just kept getting worse and he became weaker and weaker. Then disaster struck, the boat was caught in a severe storm. The wind and huge waves tossed the boat around violently. Charlie was on deck and was thrown against some object, cracking 3 of his ribs. Now the situation was dire. They were still hundreds of miles away from any island and Charlie was close to death. The nearest island was Pitcairn, so they plotted a new course and headed straight for Pitcairn. When they got close they radioed ahead that they had a critically injured passenger onboard in need of immediate medical treatment. Though he was barely conscious by then he vividly remembered the scene. He said a crew came out in a longboat to pick up Charlie and take him to the island for emergency medical treatment. The Pitcairn crew was being directed by a nimble barefoot woman with a mix of Polynesian and Caucasian features. He would later learn her name: Brenda Christian, a direct descendant of the mutineer Fletcher Christian. "Brenda Christian saved my life," Charlie said.

When I had a chance, I asked Brenda if she remembered my friend Charlie Love who had been on the island many years ago.  Her eyes lit up immediately and said "Oh yes Charlie!  He had 3 broken ribs!" and she smiled with clearly fond memories of Charlie.  I looked at her with amazement at how good her memory was, and also smiled with her as I felt a many decades loop was finally closed.

[1] Once, toward the end Charlie approached me with an annoyed tone and grudgingly confided to me after much consideration that my theory was probably right, or at least that he couldn't refute it.

Mutiny at Pitcairn!

We had so much fun on the first day at Pitcairn that the passengers and crew REALLY wanted to spend a second day on the island, but the Captain steadfastly refused to allow it! So we split into two groups: those supporting the captain, and those wanting to remain on the island for an extra day.  After a secret meeting in the aft cargo compartment, those of us opposing the captain decided to mutiny!  Under cover of darkness and with Timo's help, we stole the Zodiac and headed back  to the island.  It was tricky negotiating the large waves in total darkness and more than once we nearly crashed the Zodiac against the rocks!

Once on shore we deliberately punctured the Zodiac and let it sink to the bottom of the sea to destroy the evidence. We knew they would come looking for us in the morning so we split up and found separate hiding places. Robbie and Esa climbed up to Christian's Cave while I opted for Sailor's Hideout. Grant went Downrope and hid by the petroglyphs. Sandy and Penny went Tedside and hid with Mrs. T, the giant Galapagos tortoise. The rest hid behind the bar at Christian's Cafe (Steve & Olive's house).

Ok this entire post was made up[1], but cool story huh? 

[1] Including this sentence!

Pitcairn Day 1

At last we have arrived at Pitcairn! I had been anticipating this moment for years now and this  is one of the reasons I chose to join the leg of the voyage. I read about the history of Pitcairn and had been wanting to visit it for some time now. I explored various ways of getting here until I found that this voyage stops at Pitcairn.

The waters around Pitcairn are treacherous with heavy waves and sharp rocks. There is one dock but it's far too small and dangerous for any ship to land there. So ships must anchor some distance off shore, and wait for a longboat from the island to come out to meet them. We had radioed ahead so they were expecting us, and the longboat came out to pick us up.

The crew of the longboat was led by a striking woman with a mix of Polynesian and Caucasian features.  She was lithe, limber, and barefoot.  She was in her 70s but she moved like a woman in her 30s. Though I had never seen her before I was pretty sure I knew who she was. When I had a chance to talk to her later, I confirmed it -- as I thought she was indeed Brenda Christian, a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789!

Brenda Christian, a descendant of Fletcher Christian

I agreed to be the cameraman for the day working with Grant, the ornithologist, as the official Darwin photographer Tom was busy with the other scientist. I helped Grant record scenes for a documentary he's working on. We had two missions for today:

• Photograph the petroglyphs.  This was of personal interest to me as well. These petroglyphs were made by early Polynesians around 1100 AD, long before Europeans discovered the island. The Polynesians lived there for some time, built stone temples and monuments (most of which were destroyed by the Europeans), and then abandoned the island for unknown reasons. It is also unknow where they went to, but one interesting theory is that this is the group that first went to Rapa Nui!

• Find and photograph the endangered bird species, the Pitcairn Reed Warbler.

We accomplished both missions. 

Use at your own risk!

Steep path at Downrope

To get to the petroglyphs we had to descend a treacherous path down a steep cliff called Downrope (because it once had a rope but the rope is no longer there). Brenda was our guide and she led the way, nimbly negotiating the cliff path (barefoot of course) with no difficulty at all. We followed behind going more slowly over the slippery rocks.

Flightless bird petroglyph

The petroglyphs were numerous, covering much of the cliff wall, and quite interesting. Some were recognizable objects like a man, a goat, etc.  Others were very cryptic and undecipherable. One petroglyph was clearly a large flightless bird, which would now be extinct. Grant mused that it could even possibly be a Moa. I think it's this bird:

After finishing at the petroglyphs, we split up and searched separately for the rare Reed Warbler. It was difficult to photograph, but I managed to capture a few photos of it.

Endangered species Pitcairn Reed Warbler

Reed Warbler eating a banana. It was
previously not known that they can eat fruit
 

Here is my best photo of the Reed Warbler:

Pitcairn - The Most ISOLATED Island in the World

We are scheduled to arrive at Pitcairn tomorrow morning!

Pitcairn Island (pronounced "Pitkern" by locals) is one of the most isolated places on the planet[1]. It is most famous for being the island where the mutineers of the HMS Bounty fled to and hid from the authorities in 1790. In the 230+ years since then, Pitcairn has had an interesting if troubled, even tragic history. You can read about the detailed history of Pitcairn Island here:

• Wikipedia - History of the Pitcairn Islands 
• Official Pitcairn Government History of Pitcairn
  

Model of the Bounty

List of people aboard the Bounty

[1] It's not the most remote in terms of distance, but it's one of the most isolated in terms of the amount of outside contact, perhaps second to Tristan da Cunha.