The Best Swim Ever!

To be honest, before taking this trip I didn't know there was a difference between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea. Not only that, I couldn't tell you where either of them were exactly, and certainly had no idea why the Dead Sea was "dead." I'm not sure if I slept through World Geography in school or if I just never learned about it. Regardless, I am proud to say that not only I have been to the Dead Sea and know exactly where it is, but I have also experienced the thrill of swimming in it!

I'm guessing that you probably don't know much about the Dead Sea either. So, to get us all on the same page, here is what you missed while you were sleeping too! To quote Wikipedia...

The Dead Sea is a salt lake between Israel and the West Bank to the west, and Jordan to the east. It is 422 metres (1,385 ft) below sea level and its shores are the lowest point on the surface of the Earth on dry land. .. .It is also one of the world's saltiest bodies of water with 33.7 percent salinity... It is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. This salinity makes for a harsh environment where animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 67 kilometres (42 mi) long and 18 kilometres (11 mi) wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets.

The Dead Sea was the last stop on our short, five day tour of Jordan in December. Knowing that Egypt, our next destination, would be a whirlwind of 8 non-stop days of sightseeing in a developing (some may even label it third world) country, we planned for an extra day/night to relax and catch our breath at the beach.

We got our first view of the sea when we came over the mountains from the desert. There really wasn't too much transition between the baroness of the hills and the sea. Israel, on the other side of the sea, was within view. It looked very peaceful and calm - not at all the images we see on the evening news. As we drove along the coastline, we were amazed at the color of the water and the amount of salt on the rocks, visible to the naked eye.



At one of the picture taking stops along the coast, our driver directed our attention to the hill behind us. Way up high there was what appeared to be one of those Bedouin rock markers, but much taller. Legend has it that it is actually the pillar of salt that Lot's wife turned into. Remember that story? God told them to leave Sodom before he destroyed it, and not to look back. Lot's wife looked back anyway and was punished by being turned into a pillar of salt. Yikes! Against the backdrop of a gorgeous blue sky and the moon, here she is:


The hotel was a welcome sight (we had spent the night before in the desert of Wadi Rum, "roughing it" with the Bedouins). Upon checking in, we were given freshly squeezed juice, warm wash cloths to "freshen up" and treated to exquisite views of the sea. The rooms were large, clean and very comfortable. It was a perfect place to hang out for a couple days.

Swimming in the sea was one of the most unique experiences we have ever had. The large percentage of salinity makes you very buoyant. It is almost like you are floating above the water, rather than in it. Steven was the first to take the plunge. His delight was evident by the expressions on his face, and the rest of us adults quickly followed suit. We soon discovered that in addition to floating without effort, when you try to touch the bottom with your toes, you just bob up and down. Once we swam out to a depth of probably no more than five feet, it was nearly impossible to feel the rocks below.


The kids were more wary - if my memory serves me right, we had to bribe them with their choice of a cool souvenir to get them in. We just couldn't allow them pass up this unique experience! Armed with their goggles (to protect their eyes from the salt), they cautiously waded in. Michael was the most of amazed and delighted out of all six of us. This child has zero body fat - floating in swim lessons has always been a huge challenge for him and he has to work considerably harder than most to keep floating.

However, within minutes the "fun" quickly turned into shrieks of anguish: any little cut or scrape began burning. As you know, little boys are covered with bumps, bruises, cuts and scrapes.- they consider them souvenirs of their fun! It's so much part of the landscape of their skin that I no longer even notice them, or in this case, think about the effect the intense salt water would have in their wounds. The boys were out of the water, howling, complaining, and demanding that we leave immediately! Assuming the role of a martyr , I left the fun of the sea and started the torturous task of showering the boys off. Yes, torturous. If you could have heard the verbal assault they launched on me, you would agree. They were not blessed.

Looking back on it now, the boys do admit that it was a blast swimming until the burning started and would like to return someday when they don't have any "owies."







The fun at the resort continued with Steve's mom getting a Dead Sea Mud bath. It is said that the salt and mud contain not only beautification minerals, but have healing properties as well. It looked very cool - something else to add to my list of things to do when we return.





Since there was no way the boys were going to go back into the sea, we spent the rest of the time mostly by the only heated pool. The boys had a blast playing while I enjoyed a good book in a lounge chair.


It really was a peaceful, relaxing couple of days- a perfect ending to our stay in Jordan. We loved this country - the people were friendly and kind, the history was rich and interesting, and most of all...everywhere we went there were things that all four of us enjoyed. Due to time constraints, there were several other cities and sites we had to skip in Jordan. But the silver lining is that we will have to make a trip back some day...when the boys are scrape-free!