Dead Sea Float, Masada and Tel es-Safi

Hello to everybody! As the photos show, Vonnie and I have enjoyed floating on the dead sea and also visiting Masada, only twenty minutes away.

It is true, what they report, that it is almost impossible to sink in the Dead Sea. It is so dense with salts (not just table salt) that it's like wearing floaters all over one's body - or like wearing a wet suit without a lead-belt to counter the bouyancy.

It also surprised us by being so warm, and so softening to the skin. Vonnie described it as being in a giant hot-tub with bath salts. It was good to have fresh-water showers waiting by the sea shore and then to relax on the lounge chairs. Truly the most restful we've been on our trip.

The next morning we hired a driver, recommended by the hotel, to take us to Masada and Jerusalem. However, when he inquired further about where Kibbutz Revadim is, he offered to take us there instead of Jerusalem for only a little more money. So that's what we did.

We spent 2 hours at Masada, the Herodian palace fort used as a last-stand by the Jewish rebels of AD (CE) 68-73. A few hundred of the rebel soldiers held out with their families and other refugees for almost two years until Romans breached the walls. Rent the movie and get a Hollywood version. It is truly an astonishing place up on the high bluff. We took the gondola for speed instead of climbing the "Snake Path" that winds up to the gate. And then we went through their new museum. It was a wonderful presentation.

From there our driver took us back past our hotel at the Dead Sea, up into the Negev, past his Bedouin village where he has his estate. (Apparently a very nice property.) And then we went directly to Kibbutz Revdim.

We toured the dig last night and started cleaning our sites for excavation this morning. More on this later. But for now, know we are well and digging in (pun intended) to Israel.