Saturday, March 6, 2010

down down down to the dead sea again

Every year we have a trip to paddle on the Dead Sea. In fact the Hebrew name is the Sea of Salt, and not the Dead Sea. This year was no exception, yesterday we made our way down below sea level, about 400m below, to Mineral beach, and set off for an easy paddle on the salty oily water.

The salt crystals on the shores are reminiscent of snow and ice and the mud shores have very interesting patterns.

The mud is supposed to have health benefits and many people smear it all over their bodies. We didn`t, just paddled north for a while, tried to enter one or two of the small channels that connect the sea to the small water filled sinkholes,

had a great gourmet picnic

and then paddled back to our starting point and home again. This year the group was made up almost entirely of new paddlers. Great stuff guys. Hadas made a video of the trip.

3 comments:

hadas said...

wow wow,,,wow!!!!!!
amazing!!!!
cant believe i was there and it is here!!!!
lucky lucky us

Unknown said...

Actually Steve, In 'literature' Hebrew it does called 'the dead sea' (Yam Ha'Mavet). In more commonly spoken language in calls the 'The Salt Sea' (Yem Ha'Melach)
By the way, you can notice how much higher the Kayaks are floating on the water. I don't remember exactly the % but in rough figures Dead Sea is about 35% minerals vs about 4% in a normal ocean. (figures are committed to memory which is not that sharp now days...) thus, due to its water density, objects have much more bouyancy flating on Dead Sea. That phenomenon is unique and can be seen very clearly in the pictures. Shame I could'nt join you yesterday... Gideon

Silbs said...

I have fond memories of floating there (sans kayak) with my daughter who was living there at the time. I suggest good eye protection if you plan to roll :)