January 23, 2023
Similar to Hawaiian leis, a traditional welcome in French Polynesia is a fragrant flower necklace for visitors. The enticing floral fragrance lasted several days when stored in the refrigerator.
Brent went drift snorkeling along a coral reef in the morning. The current was strong, but the camera worked today! He saw many different kinds of colorful fish as he drifted along over the coral.
In the afternoon, our guide welcomed us with the deep, resounding tones blown from a large conch shell. This would be the call to let us know when it was time to meet back on the boat.
We boarded the boat and headed to a motu (a tiny tropical island amidst the coral reefs). We had a delicious Polynesian lunch of grilled chicken and mahi mahi with coconut rice, fresh pineapple, coconut bread, taro root, and a vegetable that tasted a bit like a sweet potato.
After lunch, Brent donned a snorkel mask and waded into the water. While he snorkeled, I wandered around the motu. I discovered crabs scuttling underfoot, coconut that had taken root and begun to grow new coconut trees, and dried coral. It was very peaceful.
While I relaxed, Brent took amazing photos of the colorful fish and coral he saw just a few yards from the shore.
All too soon, the conch sounded. We headed to the island of Taha’a to visit a vanilla plantation. Vanilla beans are not native to French Polynesia, but Tahitian vanilla is highly prized around the world for is flowery aroma and unique flavor. This unique and rare vanilla is a hybrid developed in Tahiti by combining two different species of vanilla.
The vanilla plant is actually an orchid that is native to Mexico and pollinated by special bees. Sadly, these bees cannot survive in Tahiti. So how do they get the flowers to produce vanilla beans? Vanilla farmers pollinate them by hand. For example, you can take a toothpick and touch the stamen (the part of the flower that produces pollen). Then carefully bring the pollen-coated toothpick over to the pistil (the innermost part of the flower which produces the seeds). Once the pistil gets the pollen, the vanilla bean can start to grow. Because they hand-pollinate the vanilla on Taha’a, the farmers can control how many flowers they pollinate. If they pollinate all of the flowers on the vine, they get lots of vanilla beans. However, these beans are small. To get the long, seed-rich vanilla beans that Tahitian vanilla is known for, they pollinate only some of the flowers. This gives the beans room to keep growing.
The farmers grow the vanilla vines on small trees with broad leaves. The larger leaves shade the vine from direct sunlight. They pile coconuts around the base to keep the soil moist.
Like bananas, the vanilla beans are picked from the vine while still green. They then continue to ripen and turn brown. Once ripe, they lay them out on a cotton cloth to dry. The best beans are sold whole and the others are turned into vanilla extract, vanilla powder, or vanilla paste.
After learning about vanilla, we had some free time to walk about the plantation and see the vanilla, as well as other interesting and beautiful plants.
Such beautiful plants and fish!