Harvesting pearls was a major source of income for Bahrain and the region until the early 20th century. CNN has a video report on Bahrain's pearl industry.

The group sets sail for the oyster beds

By Rebecca Torr  »  Like most women I'm always captivated by a romantic love story, especially a true one. So I was fascinated when I first heard the tales of Bahrain and its once thriving pearl diving economy.

I pictured men going out in droves for months on end to search for oysters, hoping to unearth the most magnificent pearls in the world. Then bringing them back home to show their loved ones, before selling them on to be turned into a beautiful necklace or a ring or an earring, which might end up being worn by a rich aristocrat or a princess or a deserving mother the other side of the world.

These men were heroes of their day, not just in Bahrain, or Arabia but the whole world, they left an unforgettable legacy.

With this warm hearted story in mind I was thrilled to be invited to go on a pearl diving excursion and retrace the footsteps of these legends of the sea.

Planning to take up employment in Bahrain? Looking to join a family member in the kingdom? Sarah Clarke uses her own experiences to provide new and prospective expatriates a taste of what to expect, what they need to do, and how to go about enjoying life as a resident of this wonderfully welcoming island.

Here is a list of tips, links and phone numbers that newcomers to Bahrain will find useful. You might want to bookmark these links or print them out for easy reference.

By Mika Michael » For architects, Bahrain offers a truly unique experience. Here you can see the works of the most famous architects in the world, projects where only the sky has been the limit - not the thickness of the client's wallet.