The Friedmans' Travel and Photos

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A trip to the Galilee - flowers & birds

We had a two day retreat of the Institute of Life Science in the Galilee. The event combined social activities with scientific talks.

On the way to north we stopped for a trip at Karnai Hittin ("Horns of Hattin") - a hill commanding the road to the Sea of Galilee that is the remains of an ancient volcano. This sites is known for the decisive battle where the Crusaders were defeated by Saladin's forces.

At this time of year the whole area was blooming with many types of flowers. We had a tour with explanation on the local flowers and wildlife as well as the history of the place.

We climbed the hill and came back through the eastern slopes. Although the sky was somewhat hazy, we did get wonderful views of the surrounding area.

We then continued to Maagan, a kibutz at the south end of the Sea of Galilee where we spent the next two days. A bit before dawn I got down to the beach to capture some birds. I had partial luck but managed to get few shots.

After the morning session, we bussed to Agmon HaHula, an artificial lake at the site of the historical Hula lake/swamp that was drained in the early 50s to create an agricultural land. This site is the stoping place for many migratory birds, and now is a nature reserve.

We had guided tours by our own bird experts from the university.

Afterwards we were taken on a tractor ride to the field where the local crane population is concentrated. It turns out that the local authorities and the farmers feed the cranes here to stop them from going into the surrounding fields. The cranes are shy of people but not afraid of the tractor (similar to animals on the safari). This way we got real close view of the multitude of birds.

This was definitely the highlight of the trip.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Winter Sun

During the last week I found myself taking pictures of sunrises and sunsets. The winter sky creates a great backdrop for early/late day pictures.

Sunrise, outside our house

Early morning, Sataf, outside Jerusalem

Sunrise, overlooking the old city, Jerusalem

Sunrise (indirect), Jerusalem

Early morning sky, Natania

Early morning sky (looking west), Natania

Sunset, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

A week in Eilat - Ocean Ecosystem

After years of toying with the idea, I finally managed to attend a class at the Inter-University Institute for Marine Sciences (IUI) in Eilat. More precisely, Alon and Ayelet managed to drag me with them to the class. Since neither Ayelet nor me are students, we were given auditor status, which meant that we sat at the end of the class and tried not to interfere too much.

The IUI is located on the beach front, just south of the Coral Reef Reserve and the Underwater Observatory.

Image of IUI facilities (from the IUI website)

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Satellite image of south Eilat region(from Google Maps)

The IUI consists of labs, class rooms, dormitories, and a dive center (next to the pier). The dive center
has full diving club facilities, including lockers and showers (with really hot water). Since we were visitors, were told we can dive but have to bring our own tanks. So we had to rent tanks at a regular dive club and schlep them back and forth. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

The 10-day long class was "Introduction to the Ecosystem of the Red Sea". It involved frontal classes about the geology, oceanography, and chemistry of the global and local ocean system. In addition we learned about the life (algea, small animals, coral reefs, etc.) and their interactions with ocean system. The practical part of the class included few labs, tours of the underwater environment, and research projects (the last four days). Ayelet and I stayed just for the first five days (classes and labs) and Alon who was actually registered to the class stayed for the full duration and did a project on cleaning stations in the reef.

Since the course is condensed into 10 days it was very busy. Nonetheless, we tried to go diving whenever there was free time. Either during dinner breaks, or during periods where there was lab activity we could not participate in as auditors.

Diving from the IUI was a different experience. On the one hand the local beach is rather isolated, and rarely visited. On the other, this was an area with a less impressive reef (this is why it was given to experimentalists). Still, it was full of life. Moreover, some of the experiments were different artificial habitats. These were full of soft corals and marine life.

In total I managed 5 night dives and 3 day dives (Alon and Ayelet managed more). The local facilities were great for night dive, you enter immediately into the sea, and exit few meters from a hot shower. The sea was not very cold (~23C) but the air was cooler, and there was fierce wind most of the time.

This was also the first time I got a chance to dive with my new camera setup. This included an Olympus E-PL3, two lenses (14-42, 9-18), and a new underwater housing (Nauticam) that included an additional strobe and a close-up lens for macro shots.

New camera system

This was a major upgrade from my old setup, but required non-trivial learning. The results were good, but there is room for improvement. The main difference was a "real" housing from machined aluminum rather than the cheaper plastic ones I had until now. The difference in ergonomics and responsiveness of the keys was amazing.

And now for some images.