Dead Sea

Yesterday was Dead Sea Day! I've been looking forward to going back to the Dead Sea, and we've been trying to make it back for a while now, but it seems every time we get a day that we could go the weather turns cool and windy. We had to be patient, but it was worth the wait. It was a fantastic day, hot out side, a warm layer of water on top and a cool layer underneath.

Last time we came it was much cooler and we'd spent so much time at Masada there wasn't a lot of sunlight left to keep us warm in the water. This time we were able to spend hours in the water, took a lovely nap on the beach, and gave ourselves a nice mud treatment with clay from the bottom of the sea. It felt fantastic and luxurious, sitting in the sun and letting the clay dry was wonderfully relaxing. 

Raz sank into the clay up to his knees, and being the kind person I am, I took pictures instead of helping him out. He's an awfully good sport! 

This is the clay underwater. It forms these beautiful black and white swirls of mineral and salts, it's so amazing! I've never seen anything like it in my life. 

Sunken footsteps.  Walking into the water in certain areas means sinking into the clay and then slogging through it to firmer sandy bottoms. Or just getting to water deep enough to float in (you only need a foot of water to suspend yourself) and then you can pull yourself along the bottom with your hands. It's the most fantastic sensation to float in the water this way. 

I absolutely love this, it's so relaxing. The salt is so thick in the water it has an oily movement to it. when you stir the water it makes beautiful designs that remind me of smoke or dye dropped in water. There was a layer of water on top a few inches deep that was warm and enveloping, below that the water was cool and refreshing, it was amazing moving different ways to feel the different temperatures of water. 

The colors were also amazing. Purple and blues in their smoothest forms glide around on the water. It's simply amazing.