Underwater photos - finally

People (namely, my cousin Andrew) keep asking me for 'more details' regarding the awesome Eilat diving. I don't think that I can really capture all of its immense beauty (there's just so much!), but this will be the blog post that I continuously edit with underwater photos of the cool stuff I see.

I have not been SCUBA diving here yet, but I've been snorkeling/free diving every day and finally took the camera out yesterday.

Dori!

Can you spot the octopus?

The octopus is on the move

A giant clam

Steve learning to free dive

Butterfly fish

Steve's getting good!

Acroporidae hemprichii

Mr. Clownfish defending his partner and home

"Protect me!"

That last video is of a spotted grouper harassing an eel.

Timna in the summer

Summer is off-season for Timna Park, so we had the whole place to ourselves.

With all the free space, ancient ruins, and fascinating geology - we obviously conducted ourselves with the utmost sophistication.

For example, at Mushroom Rock, we practice the ancient art of 'model shots.'

#Fashion

Then, at the ancient mines, we decided to channel our inner Seth (Egyptian god that would characterize himself as a long-snouted mouse) and went squirming around in the tiniest tunnels.

Kim + Stephan in an ancient mine

Kim trying to emerge from a tiny tunnel

It got REALLY hot by the end of our Timna Park tour, however, and we thought we needed to strip down a little to cool off.

Steve's first time trying to tie up his shirt

Those are some white bellies!

Then, we ended our trip with some much deserved dates and local beer.

Cheers! To Timna Park!

First Audio Experiments at Timna Park

I started audio experiments at the Hathor chapel on the evening of July 7 and at the copper mines on the morning of July 8.  I learned two important things.  At the Hathor chapel, I had intended to shoot more photographs, but the sky was hazy with dust.  As an alternative to my camera,  I pulled a Roland 26 recorder out of my bag. --but I did not have any external mics with me.  This turned out to be something of a blessing because I would not have used the Roland internal mics alone otherwise. And what I found was they capture a surprisingly effective spatial effect with the sound they capture, at least in the stone-surrounded environment I was in.

Then today I used 2 cardioid mics in the copper mines.  These mines are small. I am 5'2" and I have to crouch to walk through them.  The soft sandstone surfaces are irregular and include niches and recesses.  So in this environment, I found that pointing the cardioids in a coincidence pattern towards my sound source was more effective than pointing them at the stones and expecting sound bounce to enhance the sound.  This was the opposite of my results at the Santa Cruz Mission, where I found that pointing the same mics in the same pattern towards the corner of historic adobe walls and AWAY from my sound source captured a rich resonance from sound bounce.  

Not being a physicist, I assume this is because of a difference in shape/form and size of the recording area: the mine surfaces were irregular, curvy, and the space was small.  

Last night at the Hathor chapel I got fantastic sound bounces, but the rocks around me were huge--probably 60-80 foot faces.  Both the mines and the stones around the chapel are made of sandstone.  The mines were so soft, though, that I could see sand eroding in the wind before my eyes.  The huge rock faces were very hard sandstone, strong enough to build steps into and climb up a story without risk of the stones crumbling beneath you.  So perhaps soft sandstone is also more absorbent and hard sandstone is more reflective?

 I am fortunate to be with a team of scientists, including a physicist, so we are all talking about it.  This is the great thing about bringing people from different academic disciplines together!  

And I am teaching the marine researchers how to use my 360 Fly camera. They filmed a sea turtle today.  :)  

Here are some photos from the area around the Timna mines, where the Egyptians around the time of Ramesses III mined copper.  Recognize my sistrum from past posts?  The sistrum was one of the preferred instruments of the priestesses of Hathor.  They used it to channel the energy of Hathor to heal/soothe the soul and they used it to banish undesirable energies. 

Crocodile Rock

Israel feels familiar though I have never been here.  Perhaps it is Canaanite ancestral memory, perhaps it is because some parts look like inland California and in some parts the golden stepped geography looks similar to Luxor (where I spent four archaeological field seasons years ago).  We are only a few miles from the Egyptian border.

So far I have just had established a broad overview of Timna Park, the first site where I will be recording audio, photos, and 360-degree video.  I have taken photos of Ramesside petroglyphs, copper mining archaeology, and of course the Hathor chapel.

I am enthralled with the acoustics of sounds bouncing off the giant stone faces.  I am also enchanted by the different sounds produced on walking on the different geologies of Timna Park. The soft sands swish, the course sands crunch in multidirectional sound rays, the slag near the copper mines jangles.

Anyone who visits Timna who is not enchanted with the rock formations must not have a pulse.  I see where ancient peoples surely must have found animal forms in the stones and created stories, just like  Native Americans did.  I see a crocodile in this rock:

I also appreciate this rock of a female lion's head.  I am always on the lookout for cougars when I trail run in California, so I am attuned to this shape. (The nose is near the lower middle.)

As for the sophisticate in me, I savor sensuous shapes like this one:  

And then there are exciting compositions of balance, tension, and potential energy:

I also tried my hand again at some underwater video at the IUI marine research center where the rest of the team is working.  I need more practice not to make my audience sea sick.  I did a good job with this in Greece 2 summers ago, so maybe the water was just too choppy the day I went out, or maybe I need to get more in harmony.  But the variety of fish just feet from shore is stunning.

A view from the dock

Everyone loves the Gulf of Aqaba, right? Well, at least 4 countries do. In fact, we can see all four of these countries from the dock at IUI. Here are some photos! Also, with the help of Google Maps satellite view and a compass, I have added some convenient labels to guide the eye.

Looking north:

 Looking east:

Looking south:

Our Safety Orientation Included BOMB SHELTERS: Eilat VLOG #1

As part of lab orientation Esra, Kim, and I had to undergo some training via a sophisticated power point. This power point consisted of FOUR chapters and ONE test to prove our proficiency. We all passed and I got to capture some fun moments. Enjoy the photos below and let Kim give you her BOMB safety briefing.

Know the dangers of any chemical you are working with!

Esra loved it!

We all passed the test and Kim got to play her train game (Ticket to Ride! Thanks Tyler and Katy....).

Life around the water cooler

Every day, at least one local reminds me about:

1. the importance of drinking water

2. the sneakiness of dehydration

3. the severe headaches I'll get if I don't drink more water

So, I make hourly trips to fill up my water bottle at the local water cooler.

Now, I've never worked in corporate America, so my prior impression of water cooler life is limited to The Office re-runs.

But, here, the water cooler is pretty awesome at helping me get to know people, it's also where the free coffee is stored, and when I need something/someone, odds are I can lurk around the water cooler for a few minutes and they'll appear. 

#WaterCoolerLife

A mini tour

To get a sense of the place we are at, I took a couple pictures.

After you walk through the main area, you can either go right

Go Right

Go Left

If you go left for ~1 meter, you'll see a walkway toward the ocean

Follow this walkway to find a building on your left

Look down this building and you'll see 3 doors... these are our offices

If you go inside any of the offices, you'll get a view similar to this:

That's Jordan in the distance

All in all, it's pretty beautiful here.
Also, I'm slowly starting to get used to the heat. I heard Friday's practically going to be a snow day though with a chilly 101 degree high (brrrrr....) :-)

First few days in Eilat

We arrived in Eilat yesterday. We are almost all settled, with groceries, work spaces and phones (almost all of us). My phone, which I thought was unlocked, is not. The woman at the store said they can unlock it for $70. I figure it's a good investment since I travel pretty often and will be able to use it anywhere from now on. 

It is very hot here. Let me try to describe. Imagine parking your car under the sun for several hours, and climbing into it with the doors and windows shut. You know how the heat is initially nice, but gets incredibly overwhelming within one minute? Well that is what it is like walking outside in Eilat. It is initially like a warm embrace, but quickly turns really intense, and your goal immediately changes to finding to nearest room with air-con. 

The Red Sea is a comfortable temperature, even on the chillier side. We snorkeled at a public beach yesterday, but will check out the marine reserve in front of the research station today. Judging from previous pictures, it should be sweet. Also, it is as flat as a pancake. No seasickness in the forecast!

Camels and Clown Cars

We've been in Israel for 2 days so far.

I was brilliant and took a sleeping pill on the overnight flight here from SFO, so I haven't suffered at all from jet lag (winning!).

We all won though when we arrived to Tel Aviv and United Airlines had left two of our boxes behind at SFO.

This may seem like a bad thing, but... that's only because you don't know how the volume of our rental cars compared to our luggage. Thanks to a mistake on Avis's part, the two automatic, economy cars we booked magically turned into two manual, compact cars (Chevy Sparks, to be exact).

After some heavy-duty tetris, a comical clown car drive through the camel-spotted Negev Desert, and several bottles of water - we finally arrived in Be'er Ora where we will be living the next 2 months.

At IUI, it's become abundantly clear that our days will be starting early because it's so hot and ending early with some quality snorkeling to beat the heat. Never lived in a place so hot before, but I feel pretty fancy having an air conditioned office now.