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Floating in the Dead Sea, Israel

The "Dead Sea". The hottest, dryest, lowest place on earth, can reach 50 degrees centigrade in the shade, no rain whatsoever many years, and 400 meters below sea level.
This is what you look like when "swimming" in the Dead Sea. The high salt content bouys you up and you can float and actually read a newspaper. The water is high in minerals, including sulfur. The taste is atrocious and if you dip your mouth in it you will regret it. It is fantastic for people with different types of skin disorders.

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Mountain bike rider overlooking Dead Sea, Israel

This is Andrea, looing from Ma'ale Yair down toward the Dead Sea on one of our mountain bike trips. From here we have a steep descent of over 250 meters over the space of 2 kilometers. Quite a ride.

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Maale Yair, Dead Sea, Israel

This is us again, Dan, Giora and me from the same lookout, but looking directly east and north. You can see what is termed "the tongue". This is a space of dry land that seperates the northern part of the Dead Sea from the south.

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Martin, Andrea and Dan at Dead Sea, Israel

After a good ride from Arad to the Dead Sea, with a change in altitude from +600 meters to -400 over a distance of 15 kilometers (as the birds fly) we deserve a drink.
Here I am with Andrea and Dan, Giora took the pic.
The Dead Sea has many hotels and spas, most concentrated in the southern part near where the North/South road between Jerusalem and Eilat meets the road to Arad.

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Flood in Negev, Israel

What you see here is an "Irish" bridge, basically just a place where the road slopes down slightly, nothing is actually "bridged" at all, just a depression where the water can flow.

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Flood in Negev, Israel

As you can see the desert is a great place for floods, the soil type here is called Loesse, a type of soil that is partially composed of fine particles that are blown in by the wind. When the water droplets hit the soil, the soil immediately "closes" and does not absorb any of the water.

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Flood in Negev, Israel

And what happens when the water is not absorbed into the soil, you have runoff, or floods. It is amazing how swift, violent, and powerful these desert floods can be. They appear from out of nowhere causing destruction in their path.

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Flood in Negev, Israel

This picture shows a section of road....yes there is a road under the water there, about 1 hour after the flood. Take a look at the sky, in another few minutes you will not be able to tell there was a storm, much less a downpour, the sun will emerge and it will heat up. In a few hours or days the water will slowly evaporate or be wicked into the soil, but only after it has caused its damage.