Cook Island Clams

dbdavid · #1 03-01-2012, 03:16 AM

Well there seems to be quite the buzz about Cook Island Clams lately with BWA & The Reef Shoppe bringing some in. I had the opportunity this august while on vacation to visit the Ministry of Marine resources clam farming operations on the beautiful island of Aititaki.

Unfortunately no one was there to tell me about the operation. All I could do was take some pictures of the vats they had with some baby clams.

I was told by our hotel concierge who was also our driver and the Mayor of the island that they had cages just off the beach in front of the farm that had hundreds of clams in them. Unfortunately we didn’t have our snorkelling gear with us, and didn’t get to see them.

I was surprised that there was very little water movement if any in the vats.

Here are a couple of pictures from the farm and a link to my album on Photobucket in case you want to see more.
http://www.canreef.com/photopost/sho...1-1126&cat=all
http://www.canreef.com/photopost/sho...1-1127&cat=all
http://www.canreef.com/photopost/sho...1-1123&cat=all

http://s1241.photobucket.com/albums/...August%202011/

As well I took 2900 underwater pictures on this trip and have downloaded some pictures of the clams I saw while snorkelling. All the pictures were taken with my new Canon Powershot D10 without any flash.
http://www.canreef.com/photopost/sho...1-2064&cat=all
Here is the link to those… enjoy!

http://s1241.photobucket.com/albums/...nd%20Aitutaki/

Thanks

Dave

dbdavid · #2 03-01-2012, 03:18 AM

Well the pictures didn't show up....I guess you will have to click on the link to see them.

fishytime · #3 03-01-2012, 03:34 AM

wow!....those are some pretty cool clam pics......but the one pic in your album that jumped out at me was that yellow and red favia....that thing is stunning!!!.....where was that?

dbdavid · #4 03-01-2012, 03:59 AM

I am not sure which one you are referencing. Can you tell me what the picture number is and will be able to tell you exacly where it was taken.

Dave

Delphinus · #5 03-01-2012, 04:04 AM

Wicked awesome, thanks for sharing this. How did you fly in (where did the flights go in and out of)? I'd love to do something like this myself some day..

fishytime · #6 03-01-2012, 04:10 AM

you have it titled as a dragon soul favia..... pic # 004-1

dbdavid · #7 03-01-2012, 04:33 AM

That isn't my picture.

I wish that was in my tank too.

Kevotron · #8 03-01-2012, 07:03 AM

is amazing how those underwater shots most of the clams are so embedded in the rock that they ARE the rock ...
definitely would not be able to replicate that in an aquarium setting.

dbdavid · #9 03-01-2012, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Wicked awesome, thanks for sharing this. How did you fly in (where did the flights go in and out of)? I'd love to do something like this myself some day..

Hi Tony, the flight was out of Los Angeles with Air New Zealand. The flight was 10 hours arriving at 5am in Raraotonga.

We stayed at the Rarotongan Beach Resort http://www.therarotongan.com in Rarotonga for 17 nights. This resort is located in the center of the only marine reserve, so the fish are very friendly. We constantly had a school of Arugia butterfly fish and Picasso triggers following us around.

We then stayed 3 nights at the http://pacificaitutaki.com in Aitutaki. If I could do it again I would have stayed in Aitutaki for at least 5 days.

This was on my "bucket list" and if I had the chance would go back in a second.

Dave