A lucky guest celebrating her 70th birthday on board Broome Cruises recently, took home a gift more magical than she could ever have imagined, after a rare golden pearl was harvested on deck.
As part of a special visit to Broome to mark her 70th milestone, Colleen Sheehan chose to celebrate with family and friends on our Sunset, Seafood & Pearling Cruise, off beautiful Cable Beach.
During the 7-course gourmet cruise, guests were taken to visit the pearl lines of Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm to experience a harvest of live pearl oysters. To their great delight, they witnessed something incredible ~ the discovery of a golden South Sea Pearl ~ a prized gem that is extremely rare. It is estimated that less than 1% of the total pearl production from the Pinctada Maxima oyster in Australia are gold-lipped.
As soon as the shell was opened on deck, Colleen asked to purchase the gold pearl to mark her 70th birthday.
I’d already thought to myself ‘if there’s a pearl, I want to buy that as a memento of my 70th’. It was just wonderful, it was just magical and I couldn’t believe it.
colleen sheehan, owner of the prized golden pearl
Colleen and her fellow cruise guests attended an official grading of the golden pearl the next day at Cygnet Bay’s Broome headquarters, as part of a pearl appreciation session included in the tour. Colleen had the pearl set in a exquisite jewellery pendant to take home with her as a memory of the occasion.
The extremely rare discovery made the perfect 70th birthday surprise for a Perth entrepreneur who wasted no time turning it into jewellery.
The West australian
The cruise was made even more special with guests being treated to sightings of humpback whales ~ the first of the season, following their arrival in Broome on their annual winter migration.
This amazing story has made headlines in The West Australian, PerthNow, the Broome Advertiser and beyond ~ read the news story here.
To take part in a live pearl harvest as part of Broome Cruises’ Sunset, Seafood & Pearling Cruise, click here.
