Cruising The Seven Seas: Dead Sea

Dead Sea

18^th October 2011

Reuben, being a true star, was determined to have a team activity before David, Hernan and I sign off. Rather than having a team dinner or lunch we wanted to something special. Something different. Something we couldn’t do on an everyday basis. Paintball or the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea, of course, won hands down.

Unfortunately D, our Ukrainian new hire was unable to come because of Royal Caribbean training. Alex, from Belarus, was originally denied a visa, possibly because of his nationality and political reasons. This time he was able to pay a fee of $17 for a temporary visa for two days but refused. He’d be stuck on the ship for two days instead. Sanela had already been to the Dead Sea before on a previous crew trip and didn’t fancy coming with us. Instead, she was being sent on tour across Jerusalem.

We set off at 09.45. It was a bloody long drive and we were all relieved when we finally stopped. Unfortunately our relief didn’t last long, the bus driver had stopped at a souvenir store. Either way, it was nice to stretch our legs and get a breath of fresh air. The scenery surrounding us was absolutely mind blowing.

On the Bus to the Dead Sea

While on the final leg of the journey the bus driver kept slowing down the tour bus, reaching for the microphone and telling us to look in certain directions. Everyone turn to look. “Look Palestinians” before laughing. He was pointing out Palestinians living in utter, utter poverty. Broken down shacks made out of scrap metal and wood bound together and looking about ready to fall over at the slightest gust of wind. It was appalling and not a single person on the bus was impressed or amused.

Stop Off Along the Way - Me, Sandra, Camilo, David, Reuben and Hernan

By the time we arrived at the Dead Sea it was 13.30. We had until 15.00.

The first mistake a lot of us made was to think we’d be able to walk without shoes. Sandra and I didn’t bother taking flip-flops, instead we opted for trainers. Instead of sand, there was a thick layer of salt. The closer you got to the sea, the thicker the salt, therefore the sharper it became. None of us expected the salt to form into sharp, jagged rocks. It felt like you were walking across broken glass.

Neither Sandra or I could walk across the salt barefoot. In the end we had to put our trainers on. Just as we got to the water line we were going to take our shoes off. Zoran gave us a shout to say the salt on the sea bed was also sharp. Best to keep our trainers on then!

Stepping into the Dead Sea was unreal. It’s very hard to describe the sensation but at first you didn’t think your feet were going to make it to the sea bed. You have to give your foot a little bit of an extra push to get it onto the ground.

Sitting in the Dead Sea is quite possibly the strangest sensation ever. You feel as light as a feather, literally bobbing on the surface like a cork in water. It was impossible not to float. The sea didn’t feel like water either. It was more like a thick, dense oil. There are no waves in the Dea Sea either.

The huge amount of salt became apparent after about 10 minutes in the water. Your skin started burning, especially any areas that had been shaved recently. Some found out the hard way!!

While floating, it’s so difficult to put your feet down on the sea bed again. Your feet spring back up to the surface. You literally have to swim/tread water into an upright position, hold onto the sea bed and then get your feet on the floor. A bit of a work out! It’s the most peculiar feeling.

Hernan managed to get salty water in his eyes and was in pure agony trying to clean it out. I think Sandra and Zoran even had a moment of madness and tried a droplet of water... just see how salty it actually was. Children, do not try it! They were gagging and gasping for the next five minutes!

Next stop, Zoran, David, Sandra and I ran over to the river trickling into the Dead Sea. What did we do? We got absolutely covered in mud! Apparently it’s great for your skin. I think we were more interested in getting dirty and caked in mud.

We all jumped straight into the river, digging up huge handfuls of mud and literally covering ourselves and each other head to toe. David was having a field day joking that he’d never seen me so dark (be being the whitest in the team). The rest of us took a turn in having a joke at David's expense. "Covered in mud and you hadn’t even changed colour" to “you’ve gone a better tone of colour”.

Running back to where we’d left our stuff, we snuck up on Camilo, who was relaxing in one of the many chairs dotted along the shoreline. We all looked like something from a horror film. David even started doing the Michael Jackson dance from Thriller. Next we all joined in and started dancing with him! What we must have looked like, I don’t know. We didn’t care, we were just having the times of our lives. Making the most of one of our rare days off.

After getting our photos taken, the mud was starting to dry and harden on our skin. It wasn’t the most comfortable feeling. Jumping in the showers by the sea, it took forever to wash the mud off our skin. Once we had finally got it off, we all had skin as smooth as a baby’s backside! We’ve never had skin so smooth before!

Caked in Mud - Me, David, Zoran and Sandra

15.00 wasn’t far away so we gathered our stuff up and headed up towards the bus. While heading up to the bus I managed to find a Dead Sea magnet. Another one to join the ever increasing collection of magnets. Before jumping on the bus we all gathered together for a group photo.

Back at the ship, it took me 30 minutes to brush the tangles out of my hair. Salt was going everywhere!! In the end it took two loads of conditioner and more brushing to get all the knots out! Girls, tie your hair up if you go to the Dead Sea!

After getting something to eat with the rest of the team we all sat about, having a coffee and chat.

Later on I went up to join the other photographers at the basketball court. Reuben, Paco, Kenji, Zoran, David and Dione were all there playing basketball with a couple of guests. Zoran didn’t play for much longer, joining Sandra and I on the bench. Somehow Zoran has managed to bugger up his knee again and had a serious pain in his hip. In the meantime I was part watching the match and writing up my blog entries.

All in all, it’d been a great day. A brilliant way to end our last team activity for this contract. The time to leave is drawing closer. We are getting excited. David was over the moon. Nerves are also kicking in for me. It's like waiting nervously for Christmas.

Eve

Camilo

The Dead Sea

Stop Off on the Way to the Dead Sea. L-R - Reuben (India), Lou (UK), Sandra (Colombia), Camilo (Colombia), Zoran (Croatia), David (South Africa) and Hernan (Argentina)