Musandam Peninsula Dhow Cruise

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I made a few friends on my trip to Africa this past summer and we have kept in touch, including going to Kyrgyzstan together. AC organized a short trip with some of her friends and invited me along. It was an overnight stay on a dhow, the traditional boats of the Middle East. I said I was interested a few weeks ago, but the trip was not confirmed until the week before, which was perfect since my work schedule was so up in the air at this point.

Friday morning, we met at her house and took two cars, including mine, to the northern tip of Oman, about a 2.5 - 3 hour drive. I rode with two girls I never met before, M (American) and R (English), both of whom had just run in the massive 30x30 race in Dubai that morning and that I watched from near my apartment (will be discussed in a future blog). We stopped a couple of times for gas and snacks, as most of us thought we would be camping on an island. Going through the border checkpoint was fun. We all got our tourist visa online during the week, so while it was easy to leave the UAE, when we went into the Oman customs office, it was a madhouse. I have no idea where all these people came from! Fortunately, we found a super friendly Omani worker who recognized we had all our paperwork in order, including our car registrations and insurance. So, he took us to a back office where they stamped our visas and sent us on our way, allowing us to avoid the long lines in the main office.

We proceeded along the coastal road to Khasab, and it was just gorgeous scenery. We climbed up into the mountains and around small peninsulas, before making our way back down again into the Khasab area. Gorgeous drive. We stopped in at the office to check in and then proceeded to the nearby Carrefour on our way to the dock to get the rest of groceries we may need. Turns out, we would be sleeping in the open air on the dhow. Awesome! So, we got some drinks, snacks, veggies, but really, they wound up providing us plenty of food.

We arrived at the dock, boarded all our gear, and were on our way out to sea. By this time, I believe it was mid afternoon, so we travelled along the coast, again within these coves formed by the jutting peninsulas. The geology was just amazing; we had done a mapping project here earlier in the year, but it was fun to appreciate without having to work. The sea was calm, there were plenty of other tourists out on the water, and we made our way to try to find some dolphins. We had no luck, but we were able to snorkel and saw some fairly interesting wildlife. The water was perfect. So, we snorkeled for about an hour, with me admiring AC's new snorkel gear (which I bought for Djibouti), before getting ready to leave. First, AC and I enjoyed our 'swim up bar' - made from the paddle board and our kind friends who provided us gin and tonic. Then we made our way to our rest point for the evening, a place a bit sheltered from the main traffic route. The moon was gorgeous and it was quiet and peaceful. We had a good dinner, made by our crew, enjoyed our drinks, including the wine which I was able to MacGuyver open. Then we decided to jump in for one last swim - a few of us (me included) jumped in from the upper deck. I did not have my swim suit on at this point; Get your head out of the gutter- I had a t-shirt and undies.

We slept on the deck on little cushions. Not the most comfortable, but it was relaxing and peaceful. At one point, I woke up to try to get pictures of the stars, but with the rocking of the boat, it was not to be. We woke up with a beautiful sunrise and some people went for a swim or snorkel or to paddle board around. I stayed on deck. At one point, I looked down at the water and got a little nervous.

Jellyfish.

I just saw one at first, a perfect, long-tentacled specimen that gave me flashbacks to Jekyll Island and my poor sister getting one of those wrapped around her thigh and my dad having to carry her out and to the hospital. No more swimming for me! I did not want to freak everyone in the water out but they soon started to notice and the number of jellyfish increased, though there were not as many of them with the tentacles. Soon, everyone was back on board and we made ready to leave. Until we realized another tourist group was heading in our direction. Lots of dolphins! They were playing and swimming in front of the boats, then going back and doing it again. Friggin love dolphins.

We continued on and just cruised around for awhile. We went snorkeling again, in an area of the jellyfish without the tentacles - they seemed relatively harmless. The water was still nice, but it was time for us to leave soon. We had some more good food, including the most delicious lentils I think I've ever had, and plenty of fruit. The food was actually pretty good the whole time. Honestly, it was a bargain. It was 8 of us and we paid 400 dirhams each and it was totally worth it.

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Photos

dolphin watching
you can see one jumping in the middle

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Very creative
Love it.