Dead Sea Travel Tips: Into the Dead Sea
Leaving Jerusalem we decided to get a rental car to drive to the nearby Dead Sea and surrounding desert. The setting was spectacular, with a bright shinning sun, yet an odd reflective mist laying over the sea. This created the mirror illusion of sky merging with sea. But before we could enjoy the mineral rich waters of the Dead Sea we drove further along the desert road to get some historical and cultural knowledge into our system (since all we’ve done since this involved drinking excessively). Our first stop was the fortress of Masada, on top of a mountain overlooking the desert. They claim its the perfect place to watch the sunrise…
Masada is significant to Jews because a very important event occurred here during the Roman invasion of the 1st Century CE. Struck with the reality of Jerusalem’s imminent invasion, many of Jerusalem’s most Orthodox Jews fled the city to Masada and sought refuge there. Those zealots lived at the top of Masada in the village that accompanied one of King Harrod’s more extravagant palaces. When the Roman legions finally reached Masada, the zealots were faced with a grueling situation. They knew that the Romans would rape and pillage their families before eventually enslaving them. They actually took their lives to avoid subjecting their descendents to a life of slavery. When the Romans reached the top of Masada they found a site of mass suicide and it was written “even they, the Romans, felt admiration for the Jewish zealots.” For the piety and ideal that these Jews upheld, Jewish culture has since held Masada very close to the heart. Jews will never endure slavery again. Masada shall never fall again.
After touring the complex and ruins for a while we descended the mountain on foot and returned to our rental car. Within minutes we were floating like logs in the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is more than 400 meters below sea level, making it the lowest place on Earth. The Dead Sea contains the most mineral rich water (and mud) in the world. To give you an example of just how salty the water is: 30% of the water in the Dead Sea is composed of salt compared to just 3% in the Mediterranean Sea. That’s an enormous difference. Floating in the Dead Sea was truly a unique experience. First of all, the water is so salty that even the most minor abrasion of the skin burns like hell. Luckily, I only had a couple of minor scratches on my skin and so I was able to cope. Another cool feature is that your skin feels very very very smooth under the water because, compared to the salty waters of the Dead Sea, human skin is heavy in oils. For this reason, all of the oil from the depths of my flesh rose to the surface of my skin to balance the ph. The result was super soft skin! At all costs I tried to avoid getting my head wet because even a drop of Dead Sea water in my eyes would have induced massive pain, as I’m sure you can imagine. I got few drops in my mouth, which was horrifying, because it was disgusting and burned. It was like the aftermath of kissing a whale.
Floating was an interesting experience. As a result of my buoyancy, I was able to do “the pencil” and just bob there and almost fall asleep….pretty cool. You can also float on your back and not even work, in the slightest, to keep your body above water. This is how some people were tanning….just lying on their backs in the water.
Because of the mineral rich deposits in the Dead Sea, it’s the best place for the women to try out some mud masks. People come from all over the world to enjoy the benefits of the mineral rich water. The water is said to be a source of healing. We coated our bodies in black mud. After a few minutes of feeling like a creature from middle earth I immerse again in the salty waters and rinsed. We found nearby natural spring water and rinsed the salty water off our skin. Walking and floating around the beach coated in dark mud was an experience worth a thousand words – all we did was laugh at each other. A fantastic trip.
