Ein Boqeq on the Dead Sea April 22, 2000
"O’ the
sea, yes the sea. As dead as dead can be."
Anon. (Of course -- who would own up to this jingle?)
Right
after checking into the Hod, we scrambled down to the hotel's beach.
Dick has never been much of a floater, (much too dense!) so I knew he’d love the buoyancy
imparted by the Dead Sea's incredibly salty water. Sure enough, he tried
to jump for joy at his lightness.
There
is nothing alive in Dead Sea – nothing! No need for 
environmental impact reports here, though they’re probably not required in
Israel anyway. Nowadays, over 95% of the water that would otherwise run into this
"sea" has been diverted for drinking or agriculture. That means
the lake has receded, and will continue to do so. There are
still beaches adjacent to the hotels at Ein Boqeq. But I think its because there’s
been lots of dredging; there are a dozen rows of earthen mounds stretching out
into the water.
At the Hod's spa I indulged
in a trio of "treatments." A soak in hot "sulfur"
waters, followed by a 30-min. wrap in blankets; a Swedish massage, and a mud
treatment, where I was enveloped in a thick coating of hot mud for 25
minutes. My skin felt nice afterwards, and the treatments were soooo
relaxing. On the beach, others sought to obtain their smooth skin at less
expense. These two do-it-yourselfers were pretty selective about
where they mudded. They were also pretty oblivious
to the stares of onlookers and the clicks of my camera.
To make up for the spa decadence, Dick decided I needed to climb the steep hill behind our hotel. We followed some trails to an archeological site and then further along came across a small area of scrub brush, a mini-oasis in this extremely barren rocky terrain. This little bit of shade was home to at least one desert ibex. It graciously posed for a photo.
All in all, spending a few days in this quite resort town was a nice break from the ever-so-hectic life of sightseeing.