No dignity to swimming in the Dead Sea
As you enter the hypersaline water of the Dead Sea, all seems normal – until you try to swim.
As our group travelled 10km west from Amman, Jordan’s capital, we passed through desolate, rocky countryside until we reached the Movenpick Resort & Spa on the northeast corner of the Dead Sea, up there in the top 10 of the world’s saltiest.
Apparently you can’t “swim” here, which is ambiguous in a number of ways. What’s clear is that bathers can float with no effort at all.
We could see the beach at the end of a long walk down a steep hill, although several of us cheated and hopped aboard the resort’s dune buggy. There was a fenced-in area with a line of buoys and uneven pebbles that continued under the water.
There was a clear warning not to go into the hypersaline water if you have open cuts or you will truly learn the meaning of not pouring salt into open wounds.
As we entered the Dead Sea (which is not a sea at all, but a 306m-deep salt lake bordering Israel and Jordan), all seemed normal until we tried to swim.
Unless you have perfect balance, you’ll quickly be flipped on to your back.
I followed the customary approach of walking in until I was knee-deep in the water and then sat down, tipped, and my legs floated up. When eventually I tried to stand, I couldn’t get my feet down or rebalance.
It was at this stage I realised why they have lifeguards on a beach where you apparently can’t drown.
Nonetheless, there are a few fatalities each year, usually involving a combination of risk-taking and alcohol.
I backstroked clumsily towards the beach and scraped my hands on the rougher pebbles under the water. The lifeguards are used to the splashing of feeble floaters and they offered a hand of support while politely trying not to laugh. Soon I was back on dry, stable and familiar land.
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