Can't swim? No worries!

I’d be the first one to tell you, I’m no swimmer!  But here at the Dead Sea, the lowest place on the face of the earth, I can relax and float with no worries! J  The Dead Sea is so full of SALT that no matter who you are you will not sink in this water!  I remember like it was yesterday, Mr. Lelighter in the 6^th grade teaching us about the Dead Sea.  I was fascinated by it.  My 6^th grade imagination pictured a dark, spooky sea, maybe dirty with scary vegetation growing around it.  I wondered if people or things died there and that’s where it got its name.  Most of all, I remember thinking about how exotic and adventurous it would be to visit there someday.  Well, Mr. Lelighter I made it to the Dead Sea!  Today we ended the day at Kalia Beach.  My first adventure came when I accidently visited the men’s restroom.  While I was washing my hands, I wondered if it was customary to share facilities here.  Odd, but maybe???  No, I was in the wrong place! Oops!  No harm done except for my reddened face.  It was a good laugh for the rest of the group later when I found out that they saw me walking in there. 

We all changed into our suits and headed to the beach!  Let me tell you, the Dead Sea is not spooky or dark or scary.  It’s “dead” because nothing, not one thing, can live in the water because it is so full of salt and other minerals.  The Dead Sea is beautiful; lined with crusted salt deposits that dry up along its shores combined with many layers of blue reflecting in the 365 days of sun that it receives.  The water itself has a slight oily texture to it and we carefully waded into the water just as we were told to – and when the water got to our knees we sat down and whoa!  We were floating without any effort at all!  It was really a fun time.  Some of us dug deep into the mud at the bottom and rubbed it all over ourselves and floated some more.  It was like we were at the spa! I didn't take more pictures because, 1) we were in our bathing suits and who wants that posted on the internet!  And 2) I didn't want to damage my camera with the salt water.  

When you hear someone tell you that a trip to Israel is life changing... they are not kidding!  Find out for yourself and come!