Turtlehead Island, Part II

 Saturday, 2 April 2011 – Turtlehead Island, Torres Strait, QLD

Since Monday, my days have settled into a precise schedule here on Turtlehead Island.  Working at the Pearl Farm, as I expected, is not glamorous and is tough but interesting work!  Rusty, who used to be a pearl dealer on Thursday Island, took over the Escape Island pearl farm only two years ago.  The farm had basically been run into the ground (mud, actually) by a set of international investors, and the island had gone from the historically renowned Pink Pearl capital to an unruly quagmire of drunken workers and filthy work conditions.  In just a short time, the troublemakers were rooted out, the campus beautified, and the reputation built back up as a productive, high standard, environmentally conscious business.  Things are looking up, but it took a lot of work, and there’s still heaps of projects left to be done, to get the farm back to its well-oiled-machine-like glory.

Left:  when the generator is turned off at night, my house lamp makes a frightening impression in the ultra-black night!  Above:  Nautilus pompilius shells wash up on the beach in the dozens, sometimes traveling clear across the GBR.  I lucked out with this fresh one!

This month is the season for farm maintenance, with at least 2 months to go before the pearls are harvested and re-seeded with nuclei (FYI, all cultured pearls start out as “nuclei,” which are beads of cut from the Mississippi Mussel shell inserted into the pearl oyster gut along with a tissue graft; so, the core of your $100,000 pearl is just an ugly glob of mud-clam calcite, hehe).  That means that there are infinite projects to be done around the island, so most of the work I’ve been doing involves the organic veggie garden and getting some of the dilapidated equipment cleaned and functioning properly (the previous owners obviously had no clue how to care for, or even use, their own microscopes and x-ray machines!).

 

Our afternoon project over the last few days has been to build a gigantic work-station raft to be anchored up river so that the pearl shells don’t have to be hauled back and forth for each harvest.  We spent a whole day collecting all the materials, scavenged from either the beach flotsam (that’s some serious beachcombing!) or from one of the disassembled buildings on campus, and the next 3 days putting together the floating frame of plastic barrels and wood poles.  Today we floated the huge frame out to the water and she’s seaworthy!  The tides, climate, and island fauna mean that we only have a few hours in the afternoon to get all this work done:  crocodiles patrol the mud banks near high and mid tide, so we wait until we have ample space between us and the waterline before hitting the beach; the tropical midday sun paired with the 90% humidity (or just 100% rain) turns the slightest work into a substantial effort; and the heat and rain makes the insect repellant drip off so that any exposed skin is instantly attacked by mozzies and sand flies.  How on earth does anything get done around here??!!  I’m not complaining—I mean, half of the day is too hot and/or wet to do much work, then when the weather calms down it’s just sssoooo niiiiice that all you want to do is sit on the dock and watch the birds/dolphins or take the dogs for a walk on the beach to pick up cool junk and seashells!!

Above:  the first section of our mega-raft after day 1.  She floats!  But in a few days she'll have a workstation on her and will be croc- and yachtie-proof!  Below: CB (Croc Bait) poses to show how gigantic this Syrinx shell is...but CB is a gigantic dog.....I guess next time I'll put a normal-sized object in there, too, haha!!

But we managed to get the raft together and now it’s time to turn it into a habitable platform, complete with hut and workbench!  My job will be to paint a BIG sign to warn yacht-goers that the platform is NOT a picnic spot for their personal enjoyment!  I’m thinking something like: “Private Property: Beware of Guard Crocs”.  This island is incredibly remote, but the mouth of the Escape River is a renowned fishing spot and is the only safe inlet on this coast for yachts to anchor overnight.  So far, I’ve only seen one tiny fishing boat pass by; otherwise, this coast is our kingdom! 

After each day of “intense labor”, we sit and watch the sunset and fish off the dock, or take the boat out around the island to the Coral Sea, or to check on the pearl floats.  Besides fishing, at which I have no talent, skill, or luck (so far I’ve cast over 50 times and have hooked 2 submerged ropes and have netted one large mud crab), there’s lots of entertainment to be had with the dogs, Gottie and CB (Croc Bait), who are always willing to help crack/chew open coconuts or act as croc-sentry on walks along the beach!

I hope you all are having a wonderful April (well, the 2 days of it so far) and continue to stay happy and healthy!  Over and out until next time (which may not be for a while....internet is seriously patchy here when we're always covered by rainclouds!)

Cheers!