Feeling alive in the Dead Sea

The day after the Brit, Ben took his motorcycle test and then we boarded the bus to the Dead Sea (Yam HaMelach, which is actually not dead sea, but salty sea...melach is salt). Last year it was December when we covered ourselves in mud and tried our best to get the whole Dead Sea Experience. However, despite our best efforts, we were their late, the sun was going down, the air was cool, and it just wasn't the time we had hoped for. Although I enjoyed the Sea last year, this time it was far better.

It was HOT outside and the water beckoned. We got there around 11:00am and after a quick bite to eat headed straight into the water. Last time it was painful to step in because the bottom was covered in sharp salt crystals wherever you stepped. I don't know if it was because so many people come in the summer and the water moves around more or something, but this time the bottom was smooth sand, no shoes necessary. The water was so warm we walked right in no problem, it was pretty much like a luke warm bath, not the place you want to go to have a refreshing swim, but more for the odd feelings of weightlessness (more than you can imagine!). After getting over the initial burning sensation on any scrapes or dry skin (if you don't already know they are there, the Sea will tell you), we explored the odd effects of the water. Two things stand out to me as the coolest experiences:

1) If you lay your head back and put your hands behind your head you don't have to expend any energy at all, it's like laying on a cloud (or I guess what I imagine that would be like), you could stay that way for hours. In normal water I can't float worth anything. I stick my stomach in the air, arch my back, think floaty thoughts, but no matter what I do my legs still slowly sink down until I am practically vertical. But the Dead Sea....it will have none of that...if you want to float you will float (and if you don't want to float...too bad).

2. You get to a depth where in normal water you could still touch, but try as you might you just can't get our feet to touch the bottom. You're not drowning of course, your head is still far above the water, as a matter of fact so are your neck, shoulders, and part of your torso. You can bob up and down straight as a toothpick, no flailing of the arms or legs, just bouncing in place, never tiring. What a cool feeling.

It was interesting though, almost just as we got to the beach a man and woman were being dragged out of the water by the lifeguards. Since the water is mostly very shallow and it's so dang hard NOT to float we were a bit baffled as to why they were struggling. The only thing I can think is that they were laying on their stomachs and couldn't quite turn over (it is somewhat difficult to turn yourself back over) maybe they got some water in their mouth and panicked. The water is so salty it burns if you touch your finger to your tongue, so I can imagine if they swallowed a bit it would have been scary....we don't really know what happened though. They were both fine by the way.

It was a great day. We relaxed, we sat in the sun, we floated, we covered ourselves in mud, we went back in the water, we rinsed (a necessity), and then we boarded the bus for the 3 hour ride back to Eilat where the water is cooler and more refreshing, but you have to work for your float!