By Jaime Kautsky

The Alumni Association Travel Program has taken graduates and friends of GIA to the gem-carving and cutting workshops of Idar-Oberstein, the markets and manufacturing sites of Thailand, and famous diamond centers in Europe.

Next stop? The seas of French Polynesia and Australia, for an inside tour of cultured pearl farms.

Rose McKenna, G.G., manager of Alumni Relations and leader of the Alumni Travel Program, said the fall 2007 journey will begin in Tahiti. Half of the group will fly to one of Robert Wan's private atolls. Wan is the CEO and founder of Tahiti Perles and a pioneer in the Tahitian cultured pearl industry.

The group will learn about the stages of cultured pearl farming – spat collecting, breeding young oysters, nucleation, culturing and harvesting – which take place on or in the protected atoll.

The other half will stay in Papeete to tour the Tahitian goverment's Perliculture Department, which regulates and monitors exported pearls, and visit Perles de Tahiti's cultured pearl museum and Wan's sorting room.

The groups will change places before they fly on to Australia – home to Paspaley Pearls Group. Participants will observe Paspaley's South Sea cultured pearl farming operations. They will learn about the differences between Tahitian and South Sea cultured pearl farming and the extensive history of pearl farming in Australia.

McKenna said she is excited the Institute can offer alumni such an exclusive opportunity.

"The GIA Alumni Travel Program opens doors in the industry that would not otherwise be open to the public. Many of the special 'through GIA only' visits are once- in-a-lifetime opportunities."

The Travel Program is also planning a future trip to Chinese freshwater and Japanese akoya cultured pearl farms.

Participation is limited; to make your reservation now, contact McKenna at rmckenna@gia.edu or (760) 603-4135.