The Dead Sea

 

The Dead Sea is 430 m below sea level which means its the lowest place on earth. It's also the saltiest body of water on earth - over 9 times saltier than the ocean! (how they figure that out I dunno) Because of this nothing grows around it, and nothing lives in it...hence the name. You can actually see crusts of salt along it's edges. It's hot and dry and not very inviting. 

We arrived in time to have lunch - it was sweltering outside, so the air con was quite welcome. As we ate we could see the sea...we could hear it calling...I can't even remember what we ate.

After lunch we went down to the beach, it was impossible to walk bare foot on the sand because it was too hot. There were also little crests of sand where salt deposits had formed. Although there were some people there, it wasn't packed - there's no lingering on this beach, you go in, you frolic then you go.

You can't swim in the Dead Sea, you just float. It's the weirdest sensation. Have you ever tried to submerge a wake board or some other flotation device? Imagine that your body reacts the same way. So when you try and swim, you're really just skimming the surface. The water is also quite viscous, it's a little like oil, but not. It's inadvisable to put any water in your mouth or to try and submerge your head. Yeah, ok I got some water in my mouth..it's really, really gross.

When we had our fill of Dead fun we got out and tried to towel off, but because it's oily-ish you just end up smearing it rather than wiping it off. It was heaps of fun!!

Needless to say the bus ride back to Amman was very quiet...we were all sleeping like the Dead.