Jordan Day 3: The Dead Sea

Today was a huge mile stone for Ben, he finally found out what it feels like to float!!! For those who don’t know, he is one of the unfortunate people who just can’t float.

We were both really excited about going to the Dead Sea. We knew we’d float but really had no idea what it would feel like. As soon as we stepped into the water there was an odd sensation. The deeper we waded out we started to feel a sense of buoyancy, until we immersed ourselves completely and we were floating without effort. It was so surreal. We went out deeper where we couldn’t touch the bottom and we were floating vertical, with the water reaching chest high and as much as we tried we couldn’t go under water. We drifted back to the shallow water and I went in search for a much needed face mask. There were pockets of mud over the sea floor and I followed suit and smeared it all over. The only down side – trying to get the dried up mud off my face. The tiniest drop of that salty water in your eye ... oh it kills. A big thanks to Ben for painstakingly getting it off my face, I wasn’t happy.

We went for a dip in the pool to wash off. That I didn’t like. Though there were many tourists, I felt very uncomfortable in that pool when we’d see all these local families there for that day, the women in full dress and head scarves sitting by the pool while all the men were enjoying themselves in the pool. I would defiantly pay to stay at a hotel on the Dead Sea next time.

Another buffet lunch, but this time we welcomed it with empty stomachs – all that floating really works up an appertite.

Oh, almost forgot, on the way to the Dead Sea we stopped to look at St George’s Church and the Madaba Archaeological Park. The Greek Orthodox Church was built over a Byzantine Church, which has a mosaic floor (560AD) of a map of the biblical sites in the surrounding area. The Park had a few ruins, a roman street and mosaics.

Then we went to Mt Nebo. It’s said that this is where God spoke to Moses, where Moses saw the Promised Land and where Moses was buried. It had fantastic views over the Holly Land and the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea

View from Mt Nebo