The Dead Sea

Weird, weird, weird!  That's how I would describe the sensation of floating in the Dead Sea!  It requires a lot of core strength which, frankly, I don't have.  Robert was fine and loving it, but it was hard work for me so I stayed in for a couple of minutes and got out.  I don't know.  Maybe I was doing it wrong,  After all, aren't you just supposed to lay back and float?  Maybe I was thinking about it too much.

They recommend that you don't shave because the salt water stings the recently shaven area.  Also when you go into the Dead Sea, you'll discover cuts you never knew you had.  I had a tiny little cut on my knee and boy did it hurt!  So as well as lacking in core strength to keep me afloat, I also had a little, tiny, baby cut on my knee - I'm such a wuss!

The one thing I did enjoy was the mud slapping.  That was great fun and great for the skin!

Mud-u-like!

Get your mud on!

Robert and Spencer slapping on the mud!  Such fun :-)

The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth.  It has been called many names such as, 'stinking sea' and 'salt sea'.  A Greek traveller first gave it its current name as he noticed that the water couldn't support life.  The high salinity of the water is due to the fact that the sea has no outlet and the high temperatures evaporate the fresh water more quickly than it is replenished.  Also, due to the intensive irrigation that occurs in the Jordan Valley, the sea is shrinking.  Environmentalists believe that the this sea will in fact, die away. So if you want to experience this strange feeling, come soon before it evaporates altogether!

That's the state of Israel in the distance.

One of the nicest parts of being at the Dead Sea is observing the sunset over Israel.  It was quite magical to watch all the lights come on in the distance and to think, my goodness, I can see a Biblical land.  We were all happy to be sitting on the Jordanian side, purely because we had the best view of the sunset :-)  We ended our float in the Dead Sea with a nice, large cold beer, feeling chilled out and quite sleepy.  We're looking forward to going back there again and the best thing about it is that we can!  It's only a 45 minute drive from Amman.  There are all kinds of spas and pampering places.  We may have to indulge every month or so to wind down and treat ourselves.