For diving and collecting snails and meaning its dye, we’ll need basic diving equipment: a mask, snorkel, fins, and a wetsuit if the water is cold. We’ll also want a weight belt, dive gloves, and a dive knife or scraper to pry the snails off the rocks, along with a mesh bag to collect them and a buoy or float marker to mark our position.
For deeper dives, we’ll need a scuba tank, regulator, and buoyancy control device (BCD), plus a dive computer or depth gauge and an underwater flashlight to see in darker water.
We should also bring along basic safety equipment: a first-aid kit, an emergency oxygen kit, a surface support boat if we’re diving offshore, and a communication device to stay in contact with our team.
Once we’ve collected the snails, we’ll need equipment for extracting the dye. We’ll start with a sharp knife or small hammer to open the shells, and a mortar and pestle or grinder to process them. We’ll need non-reactive containers made of glass, ceramic, or stainless steel, along with measuring spoons and scales, stirring rods, and a fine cloth or filter to strain the dye.
If we’re working with modern laboratory equipment, we’ll also want glass beakers, a pH meter, a hot plate, protective gloves, and safety goggles.
It seems like from my research online and by seen from for example these video clips of my friends there, that the snails found are a mixture of Bolinus cornutus, as well as for what actually looks like Murex trunculus. However they dye can be extracted from all those.
Written by Chaim Jeshurun