The Aabian Gulf was of the largest natural diving economies
in the world. Pearl diving was still in play in the UAE but faded away as less
expensive pearls became commonplace. The last century-old Emirati hunt for the
black pearl has not disappeared completely, to reconnect Emiratis and tourists
with the once vibrant pearl-diving economy in the Gulf Emirates, the inaugural
public tour aboard a traditional dhow has now been launched officially giving
up to 20 paid guests a change to travel back in time and dive to the shallow
ocean floor in search of their very own pearls. The proud tradition of pearl
diving in the UAE may be gone but it’s certainly not forgotten, said major
Suwaidi. There was a pre-lunch dhow tour
and pearling dive to a secluded protected cove where the media learned the
merits of fetching oysters from the sea
bottom and once safe back on board, shucking the shelled creatures in search of
naturally-grown pearls. The local pearl industry collapsed when Far East pearl
farmers created the cultured pearls by manually inserting a foreign bead in
each oyster to produce fine pearls cheaper than the Arabian pearl.
203 words.
No comments:
Post a Comment