I’m a Bobber or A Pee in the Sea

This comes as no surprise to my family, but I gotta tell ya, I love to bob!  And what better place to do that than in the Dead Sea – the homecoming for a bobber!

It was a bit chilly today, mostly due to the crazy wind.  But this was fun as it created some waves in the water.  First walking into the water it feels like nothing.  I thought, there’s no way I’m going to do any floating in this, its the same as anywhere else.  I kept walking (and slipping on the mud) and it wasn’t getting any deeper.  Finally I decided waist-high was enough and I might as well give it ago.  I sunk down, leaned back and vwap!  Floating.  It took me about ten minutes to stop laughing at the silliness of it.

When you float in the sea you must use your abdominal muscles.  This is necessary to keep balance and avoid getting salt in your eyes.  Its also best to keep it away from your mouth, but this is impossible and oh, it tastes horrible!  On your stomach your feet and calves swing upward.  On your back your body wants to lay prostrate.  You can literally relax every muscle while on your back and just be – tis bliss. 

My two favorite floats are on my back.  On is prostrate, but with fingers to my ears so I do not get too cold and also to keep the water from my eyes.  I laid like this for quite some time just staring at the blue sky and white clouds.  The second is to interlace my fingers behind my knees.  This allows me to relax and sit up, gives the abs a break and lets me look all around to the beach and the hotels on the Jordan side.

I also like to twirl.  As a kid…okay just last summer, I like to bob with an inner tube, my arms slung over the sides and my legs straight down.  I cross my ankles and start to spin and spin and spin [you shouldn’t do this after eating].  I thought I’d give it a try in a deep spot of the sea, but it didn’t work because it only takes a little off-balance motion to put you on your face…and well, there’s the eye-sting issue again.  It was nice though to stand straight up, without touching the bottom, and to allow the waves to bob me up and down.  But instead of spinning I discovered twirling.  Its when you kick your legs just a bit to quickly roll from back to stomach to back again – around and around.  Such fun!  I wish I was able to do this in my bed and twirl without getting caught up in the sheets.

I washed off, took a nap in the sun, then went floating again.  Bus loads of tourists came by, took a quick float and then left in 30 minutes, the horror of mass tourism.

From my journal, in post real-time:  There is a Russian Orthodox man sitting in a white plastic chair overlooking the water and a boat.  Three Russian ladies in bright swimsuits walk past a sexy M.E. young man covered in black mud.  An overweight Russian man is putting his black pants back on over his tightie whities that he chose to swim in (apparently he forgot his neon striped speedo).  I unfortunately saw his ass through the see-thru fabric.  An Arabic family now leaves.  The dad, son and 2 daughters swam and covered themselves with mud while the teenage daughter (or wife?) remained on the beach fully covered.  The son, a 6 year old, ran naked in black mud while his sisters swam in long pants and shirts.  The hot life guard has watched me all day – it is his job, but I like to imagine he lusts for me and will ask me to stay in his bungalow.

I’m still a bit salty though my skin is very smooth.  The water is full of minerals but feels soft and cushy.  The sand is very grainy, just tiny rocks ground down from the surrounding mountains (ie. hills), and the mud is deep black with a texture like  M.E. hummus and spreads on skin like butter.

Dead Sea: Rating 10 stars