Floating in the Dead Sea

A typical photo showing someone reading a magazine whilst floating in the Dead Sea. The trick is to move both arms simultaneously otherwise your body tips over as some members of our tour group found out - result soggy reading material.

The Dead Sea is an astonishing 400 metres below sea level and the air pressure is much higher there. Plastic bottles half filled with water become distorted during the descent. The salt content is about 33% and nothing, apart from some simple bacteria, can survive in it. The level of the Dead Sea falls by about 1 metre a year. There are plans to create a Red-Dead Canal to stabilise this.

From this spot in Jordan it is possible to see the towers on the top of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and Jericho.