Sea That?

by Margriet Ruurs

Not long ago I was at the Dead Sea in Jordan.
This large ‘lake’ is about 65 KM from the capital city of Jordan, called Amman. Amman is at 700 meters above sea level and can be chilly in Fall or Winter. But a one hour drive to the floor of the Jordan River Valley takes you to the lowest point on earth: about -400 meters. The temperature differences can be impressive. You can go here in one hour from cold, even snow, to warm enough to sit on the beach and swim!

 

Along the main road south I spotted vendors selling inflatable beach floaties. But you don’t need a flotation device to float in the Dead Sea. Because the water contains more than 35% salt, its density allows you to float! The high salt content also makes it impossible for anything to live in such salty water, which is exactly why it is called the Dead Sea.
As we drove to the lowest point on earth, we suddenly noticed that our water bottles went completely flat as the air pressure changed.

 

When we got closer to the water’s edge, what looked like a sandy beach turned out to be salt crystals. And the ‘frost’ build-up along the edges of the ‘sea’ were salt formations. This water came from the Mediterranean Sea about 3 million years ago. A million years ago the access was cut off but the salt water remained inland, although it is slowly drying up and the Dead Sea grows smaller in size each year.

We had fun discovering what it was like to float. The water felt normal but its density allowed us to put our feet up and wave with two hands without sinking. Getting up was harder… I had to force my legs down before I could stand up.

For $3.- US you can buy a Dead Sea mud rub here. Once you get rubbed down in black mud, it looks like you’re wearing a dive suit! Dead Sea mud is rich in salts and minerals, including sodium, chloride, magnesium, potassium, iron, and calcium and is said to be rejuvenating for the body.

 

On the way back to Amman, suddenly we heard loud popping sounds as our water bottles expanded again! An interesting side effect that we had not expected!

Next I traveled to a beach on the other side of the world: the Andaman Sea in Malaysia. Here, I discovered another interesting thing. This sea is also salty but not at all ‘dead’: there are coral and fishes, squid, crabs, even Irrawaddy dolphins.

Every time I walk on the beach at low tide, I notice that the sand looks all raked in an interesting pattern. I am curious so I researched what causes this change in the sand. And this is what I learned: tiny little crustaceans called Bubbler Crabs live in the sand. Each one is about the size of the nail on your pinky finger. At high tide, they live in burrows deep in the sand under the water. But at low tide, it’s time to eat. The tiny crabs scurry out of their burrows and get to work. They search each grain of sand, eating its edible content like detritus and plankton, stripping the sand with their pinchers, rolling the rest of the sand into a tiny ball and discarding it. They work fast since the tide will be coming in again soon. As they search and discard the sand efficiently and systematically, these tiny balls form an intricate pattern on the beach around each burrow hole.

So, next time you SEE something interesting by the SEA, be sure to be curious and do some research!

Click here to see bubble crabs at work:
https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/sand-bubbler-crabs

Margriet Ruurs is the author of books like Wild Babies and In My Backyard. She lives on Salt Spring Island BC. Photos here are by the author and her family.