The last pearl divers: freediving for an Arabian pearl

-900 Grade A, about 1000 Dirham. [Under Water Sound] -Wow, OK. Wow, that's incredible. [Theme Music] Dubai its the city of the future. The world's tallest skyline, luxury manmade islands in the sea, sixteen lane highways, driverless metros, Lamborghini police cars, Minister of Happiness. The place oozes the feel of a modern city fueled by the petrodollar. But Dubai's oil reserves relatively modest compared to its big brother Abu Dhabi, and oil wasn't discovered here in the UAE till 1958. Yet before all this, these were desert dwellings. A very tough place to live without the modern technologies of today, though people have been inhabiting these parts for 7000 years. So what brought them here? What kept them here? and what initiated this bustling commercial metropolis? It all started from something as small as your finger. Pearls -[Uplifting music] Pearl

diving was once a very lucrative industry here in the UAE, dating back over 7000 years. Due to the shallow depths of the sea here, people were able to go down on one breath of air to the bottom of the sea bed to pick up oysters, which often contain pearls, and due to the rarity of these pearls they had a very high price. Until the mid-nineteen hundreds the Japanese discovered how to create synthetic pearls which crashed the price of pearls, diminishing the pearl industry here in the UAE. Now I want to find out a little bit more about the pearl diving industry. So I'm going down to Al Suwaidi Pearl Farm, where they still practice the traditional techniques of pearl diving. But before I do, I must first learn how to do free diving. So I'm

going to do my Padi freediving course in Fujairah. -[Arabic Music] Welcome to Fujairah. You can see why I like coming here. So I've come down here to Divers Down in Fujairah where I'm going to be taking my freediving Padi course, and the expert today is Yuri. -Hi. -How you doing, Yuri? -Thanks a lot, I'm good. How are you? -Good. Okay. So tell me, I presume you've -been doing this a long time? -Yeah. I've been doing it for more than 10 years. 10 years? And so what depths do people go to in free diving? Well, you'll be surprised that actually it's quite natural for us to do that. If you talk about world records, the deepest person has gone 214m, which is the official record. -214 meters deep? -That's right. -On one breath of air? -Exactly.

So what's different about free diving is you don't have scuba gear so it's one breath of air and the experts can get down below 200 meters. That's incredible. So how do we get into this? As I obviously can't go that deep I don't even know if I can hold my breath for very long. So how do we practice and get better at it? -What's the first stages? -The key in free diving is relaxation. So that's the first thing you need to master. You once you are able to do that, there's certain breathing techniques that will be going through, and then the main thing we'll be talking about is the breathing cycle. So that's the way you breathe right before you start to dive and after the dive. So essentially, as we're going down the pressure

gets a lot stronger, the same effect as when you're landing in a plane and you get pressure in your ears, you get the same thing when you go down in water but a lot faster. So the way to overcome that is to basically equalize by blowing into your nose and it equalizes the pressure in the ears and we have to keep doing that as we go down. If we start feeling pain in the ears, we've gone too far. -That's already too late. -It's too late. So we have to do it before -that. -Before you feel any discomfort. -[Arabic Music] It's a very different experience learning freediving because first of all, you don't have any equipment. You can't actually breathe under there. Now, generally, you would think that why would anyone want to do that? But

it really gives you a lot of freedom and a real feeling that you're actually among the fish. You can actually get closer to a lot of fish and you actually can feel a much more natural way of diving. But one of the things that I've been learning from Yuri, because you don't have all the equipment, you're not focused on looking around you as much as you're focused on internally and keeping calm, keeping relaxed and understanding your -body. So it's a real internal experience. [Water Splashing] Is there any specific technique to getting in or am I just jumping in? No, there is nothing no. Nothing specific there. -All right. [Laughter] [Water Splashing] You want to where your weight belt before that. -Oh put the weight belt on first? -Get the fins on. -OK. [Splashing] [Tense Music]

-How did it feel? -Was I vertical? OK. So I managed to reach 10 meters below the depths on one breath of air and what I was doing essentially is pulling down on the rope to guide me. Now the next stage is to be able to go down just using my legs by finning. Obviously it requires a bit more energy in the legs, but it's essentially swimming without the rope. -[Tense Music] [Splash] Breath, Breath. -How am I getting along? -Yeah, doing good, doing good. Free motion, almost perfect going down. We need to work on certain things, being more parallel -to the line, not looking up. -Being vertical as I go down? Yeah. So you're, you're quite looking up sometimes. -Yeah. -Right. Other than that you're very relaxed. Just floating up. That's the main thing. So I'm

really happy that I actually managed to get to 10 meters because it's quite daunting the thought of going 10 meters below the water on just one breath of air but I managed to do it. Now in order to actually complete the Padi free diving qualification, I need to be able to get to 16 meters and finning as well. So I didn't manage to complete that today, but I'm not going to push it today because, you know, I've done a lot of dives. So I think I'm going to come back another day to actually complete the course. So, I think that's over and out from me today. So I finished the practical today, and it was a lot of work, actually. A lot of diving today. Now, the course actually consists of a theory session, a

pool session, practical as we did today in open water and that can sometimes take two days, it probably and take me two days I expect. Well I've had fun time here in Fujairah doing it with Divers Down. Thanks very much. -You're welcome. -[Arabic Music] So if this looks like a bit of a change of scenery, it's because we've come from Fujairah down to Ras Al Khaimah to meet with Al Suwaidi Pearl Farm, who one of the few people who still practice the traditional style of pearl diving. That's very different to what I've been learning in freediving with all the equipment. They do it the old fashioned way, the traditional way. So I'm here to meet with Mohammed, who's taking us out, but I dont know where he is. Hi Mohammed its Paris. I'm here somewhere.

I'm by the by the marina. OK, all right, I'll come find you. He's on the boat already. [Speaking In Arabic] Hello. How are you? My names Paris, nice to meet OK. This is the traditional style pearl diving boat. And we're going to head out now to where there's a float -and we we're going to go find some pearls. [Arabic Pipe Music] So we're just taking a boat out here from the marina to where there is slightly deeper waters, where the flotation device is where they actually farm the pearls. Now, nobody really does the old form of pearl diving because it's very dangerous and your success ratio of finding a pearl was about one in every hundred oysters. So pearl farming massively increases that, and I'm going to find out a little bit -about how they

do this. -[Boat creeking noises] OK. So this my friend Othman and he's an expert on pearls, and you're going to explain to us a little bit about the different types of pearls and how -you collect them. -This is a natural pearl. So these are the ones you actually find out at sea and the rest that you have here you farmed. And is there a difference in the price between natural and farmed? Yes, natural is more expensive than cultural. -OK. -Because it's more rare. The cultural pearl the size in our farms start from 6 mili until 13 mili, and the grade we have grade -A, B, C, D. -And this is how you grade them, and depending on the different grade is how much they will be worth in the market. Yes. We grade them by

luster of the pearl, and the surface, and the shape, how round how semi-round, and the color and the size. So what is the chance of finding a pearl in a natural oyster? A natural pearl 1%. For example, in 1000 oyster there's 10 pearls. 9 of them is small and 1 big pearl. In cultural, 60%. Wow. So talk to us about the cost. What would be the cost? About 250 dirham for one piece, and this 8 mili grade B is about 370 dirham. And this 9 mili grade C about 300 dirham for one piece. Right. So this is the most expensive because it's it's bigger than this one, -but it's higher quality. -For example 900 grade A about 1000 dirham -for one piece. -How many pearls do you farm throughout the -year? -We farm about 20000

oyster, from 20000 -oyster we have about 14,000 pearls. -14,000 pearls a year? Wow. Yes. And from that quantity we have only 10 percent has high quality Grade A. Then we have B, C and D and low quality at the bottom. So you might get 1400 pearls which are of great quality? When the pearl diver dives, he has two ropes with him when he dives. First rope is the basket he put on his neck like this to collect the oyster. He stays about one minute or two minutes under the water to collect the oyster. When he finish he takes out and give sign to the man on the boat. Three times done, he pull him back with the oyster. And first, another rope. -So you're using a weight to pull you down. -Yes. Why? Why do

you need the weight? Can't you just go down? Its because the pearl diver before he dives bout 50 to 200 dives in one day. -He doesn't need to swim. -It's about productivity. Yes. When the stone pull him down and the man pull him back up. -OK. -This is a nose clip, but this made from wood, before they would make from tortoise shell. The tortoise shell would work under the water because when you got more pressure, the tortoise shell would close -his nose. -But now we need to save the turtles, so we -use wood. -But this is a kind of nose clip. And these clothes from Qatar are black color. This protect him from jellyfish and the color -to protect him from the shark. -Shark? -Yes. -Nobody told about sharks. There's sharks here? -Yes -But small

ones? -Yes small ones but not around here but -outside -Outside. OK. But here you're OK? I presume -this also keeps you warm? -No, no. Before when they go diving they dive in summer. Only in summer. Pearl diver main dive season in summer for 4 -months. -Because it's warm? -Yes. -And today we're in January. Because now in this time in the winter, they stop. They do it then. -So this is way too cold to pearl dive? -Yes -So I'm going to do it in the cold? -[Arabic Music] I'm about to find out why pearl diver's don't do this in January. Pretty cold. So got the nose clip on. Here's my basket. So keep that around my neck? Practice the breathing techniques. How do I let you know when I'm ready? -When you are ready you go.

-[Dramatic Music] Got one. Look at that! All right. I'm pearl diver now. OK. It's pretty cold in here though. -Give me the rope. Give me the basket. Ok, It's pretty cold in there in January, but got an oyster. Now that's a natural oyster. So probably not a good chance that there's a pearl in it, but we can open it up now and find out how they actually open these things and see if I got one. -So this this knife.... -We used now to open the oyster. It's a -sharp knife. -Now we're seeing oysters sort of -semi-open. He is saying hello. -Now we cut the muscle and he will die and open -OK. This is the oyster inside. He have a mouth. They take water from this side, then he filtering the water from the side.

He eat the plankton and he filter the water for plankton. And this is the main thing right here. The oyster produced the pearl to build the shell from outside and inside. When we seed, we put the bit -in the oyster, in this area. -So the pearl would be in the meat? -Yes. Inside in the middle. Now we search. -So when you eat oysters... -They are different oyster -Different oysters? So that's why I've -never found a pearl in my mouth. -Yes, that's different. Also we eat this oyster but only the muscle. OK. Now we search for the pearl. -So you put your thumb in? -OK, I feel something there you can take out Really something, huh? That's the pearl. So how do I, I just break it open like this? All right. That's it there. -Yes.

-Wow, OK. Wow, that's incredible. And that's perfectly round. That's a good one, right? -Nice luster yes. -That's so that's a good color. -Yes. Nice luster, creamish color. -So what would that be graded as? -This is a grade B. -B? -Yes. Because high Luster. -So that's worth around 270 Dirham's? Like this yes. Three hundred. Yes. Nice, nice quality. -Wow. And then we can also eat the meat? -When we found the pearl, we found the pearl and we wash with the fresh water like this. And we used salt to remove -the sea smell. -Right. That gets rid of the smell? -But that doesn't damage the pearl? -No. Because the pearl is made from -bicarbonate calcium, same as the the salt. [Water Pooring] Well, there we go. So that's a pearl that I've caught. Look at that. And

then muscle for eat. We eat the muscle. -You can eat that raw? -Yes, -I can eat it now? [Cutting noise] -So you just give that a wash. [Water pooring] Straight from the seabed. So it's a little bit harder than most oysters. Yes. Othman, thank you so much. That's really been incredible to learn all about your culture and the history of the Emirati people and I'm really happy that I managed to find quite a nice pearl. -It's a nice one. It's nice quality. -Super. Thank you very much. Well, that's all for me. That's pearl diving. And I'll see you next time. [Theme Music]