You may ask: so what does a typical field day look like here in Israel? This post is one I should have written a while ago, but it took a long time to understand what "typical" meant. Here it goes:
Tuesday
5:30 am: Get up; grab lunch, water, coffee, cooler, toolbox, bucket, dive booties, change of clothes, towel; walk to bus stop.
6:00 am: Transfer to second bus. By now, plenty of weird looks - I'm carrying all kinds of unusual items.
6:30 am: Arrive at University Sadna (Dive Facility). Meet the guys (Amir and Mosheko); load the truck and the boat with gear and equipment; and, just when you though you were ready to go, relax with a cup of Turkish coffee (now I'm awake!!!).
7:30 am: On the road to field site. Unexpected detour through residential neighborhood. Involving a 3-point turn by an F-350 towing a 20-ft boat on a trailer.
8:00 am: Arrive at field site. Get wet and start the military-style boat launch. This involves lots of yelling and being ordered around, but it works - just hard at 8 in the morning.
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| Boat launch in Nahariyya, northern Israel |
8:30 am: Collecting data, doing research, diving, launching nets - the best part of my day. The guys are helpful, creative, and fun to work with.
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| Hauling in the net |
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| Capturing the critters |
10:00 am: One more station to sample. But... alas, Amir decides it's time for a coffee break. From beneath the deck, he unpacks a toolbox. Out comes a camping stove, finjan, and glass cups. The water boils and the Turkish coffee flows. Amir transforms the workbench into a coffee bar and installs himself as the barista. If coffee isn't your thing, feel free to take a refreshing swim instead.
Variations on the coffee break include: Anchoring the boat and swimming to the beach to have coffee with the local kibbutz sailing club. Or, picking up acquaintances, friends, colleagues, or the former chief admiral of the Israeli navy.
10:30 am: Finish with plankton tows, moving on to diving.
10:45 am: In the water diving, dodging jellyfish
11:00 am: Get your ass in the boat by hauling yourself through the tuna door. If you fail, you will be left behind when Mosheko takes off like a bat out of hell.
12:00 pm: Lunch time! Variations on this include: no lunch, packed sandwiches, hummus at a gas station, or dock the boat at a busy fish pier send runner to best hummus place in Israel for takeout. While this happening, watch culinary show filming at fish pier. Are we really on TV? Ask the Dutch guy, he's the producer.
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| If anyone sees this on the Food Network, let me know |
12:45 pm: Back to the boat launch and time to extract the boat - stressful times! One person on the boat, one in the truck and the rest in the water. Lots of yelling and getting wet. Pull the boat, yank the rope, gun the engine, spin the tires, cross your fingers. Chances are you will repeat these steps more than once.
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| The R/V Zvi - finally on the trailer! |
1:15 pm: Head home to Haifa.
2:00 pm: Arrive at the Sadna. Unpack and wash the boat, truck, gear, etc.
3:00 pm: Finish up and, if you're lucky, get dropped off at a more convenient bus stop.
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