UAE and Oman - final trip

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I spent Canada Day and Independence Day in Dubai and Oman, respectively. My last day of work was on Tuesday and I got yet more cake and gifts!!! As well as another signed giant camel card. I really am going to miss my coworkers - they are such a great group of people and the biggest indication is how well we all pulled together during the craziness of the last two years. So, I said my goodbyes, checked out of Garvey's and headed to the Oryx Rotana for the night. I was able to get the room for $48 as a Ramadan special, but wound up spending another $40 on breakfast and wifi - not really worth it. Though I do love the Oryx a lot. Marcus came over and we had a drink before heading to an Indian dinner with my boss and another friend. Then, that was that - back to the hotel.

Wednesday, I headed to the airport and took off to one of my favorite cities: Dubai. I got in early afternoon and napped before Jamie came home. We took it easy that evening. Thursday I headed to my office in Dubai to say goodbye to those folks. Even more cake (and pizza). Another place and people I am sad to leave. Fortunately, that evening a few came over for a surprise dinner. Joevet helped Jamie cook and Sam and Ivan came to join us. Dinner was delicious (of course) and Joevet made an incredible cake which looked simple but was sooooooo goooood! I am not even a chocolate person, but with a little coffee flavor added, I was a happy camper.

Friday we slept in before heading to the Sofitel downtown for our afternoon massages. First, Jamie made us do a tough gym workout which felt good. My massage was good, but I am really gonna miss Liza. Afterwards, Jamie got her hair chopped off while I got a pedicure. Then we changed and met some of our girl friends out at Q-Bara, an arabic restaurant, for dinner. Very good dinner and atmosphere, but it was just fun to hang out with the girls one last time. And meet one's new man. 😊 Jamie's friends were also there at another table, so after dinner we all got together at a big lounge table upstairs to smoke sheesha and chat.

Dibba, Oman - Musandam Peninsula

Saturday, the 4th of July, we got up early and met a van for a drive to Dibba, Oman. Jamie's friends from the previous night organized the trip, so there were 7 americans and 1 british girl. Our driver apparently was exhausted from fasting and almost killed us - he kept falling asleep at the wheel. So Chris went to sit up in the front with him and keep him awake. Welcome to Ramadan! Chris and his friend Patrick were visiting Chris's sister from LA, so it was a treat for them to drive through the desert and see the camels. They remarked how desolate the mountains were, but how they were also seen in places in Southern California (especially after a fire).

We got to border control in Dibba where we passed all of our passports forward; we didn't get a stamp though - bummer. However, the owner of the boat, some Emirati guy, welcomed us at the border while we waited and recommended that we be back by 3pm since it is Ramadan. He also recommended that we not stray too far from the coast because of "lady problems." No joke, he actually said this. Twice. After we got our passports back and started to drive, we wondered what kind of "lady problems" we should expect.

It didn't take too long to figure it out. We crossed multiple boats to ours at the end and about twenty minutes into the ride, we had two girls down with sea sickness. You know, "lady problems." Emily took a couple of dramamine I fished out from my backpack (which I sometimes use to knock me out on a red-eye) and fell into a snooze on the boat deck. Jamie took one, but thought laying down would make it worse. I felt so bad as she started to get very upset. Fortunately her friend Josh (Emily's fiancee) stayed with her and tried to distract her, and Erin wet a towel with ice water and put on her head when we finally got her to lay down, and while the boat guys assured her we would get her to the "island" and she could relax in some A/C in just twenty more minutes. Ah, these "lady problems" affect us all.

There was no island, but we pulled into a secluded cove where the water was quite calm. Both girls felt much better and even more so once they got into the water. So, we spent a lovely few hours at this spot. We were supposed to have a banana boat as part of our package, but apparently for the last six months Oman does not issue permits for banana boats, so no one can do this. All because (we were told) a Russian woman broke her arm. Sigh. More "lady problems." We were also told that fishing was part of the package. No fishing. And snorkeling too! We had lots of masks and two functional mouth pieces. For eight people. Oh, plus the three girls who were on deck above us that we didn't see until we got to the cove!

The guys jumped in from the upper deck and I hopped in from the side. Right into some gasoline - between that and the salt, my eyes felt great. But the water was great, a bit on the warm side, but so refreshing from the hot day. The guys, as they always do, made up a game to pass the go-pro between them via tosses and jumps and entertained us all for about forty minutes.

All but Jamie decided to take the boat guys up on their offer to take us snorkeling as the water was too muddy where we parked. So one took us in a speed boat across the cove where we hopped in and he pointed out the good spots. Then he left us. Completely and utterly abandoned us. We kind of shrugged, assuming he'd be right back and started to snorkel. I gave Emily my mouthpiece because they just make me claustrophobic anyway. So I swam and for the first time ever during snorkeling I saw a turtle! Right below my feet! I actually squealed a little before remembering I was underwater. The rest of the fish were very small, but there were some quite pretty ones. After about twenty minutes, people started to want to return and Chad had scraped his knee pretty bad. No boat. We waved to the dhow. No boat. I stayed in the water, while everyone else found a rock to climb, but at this point it was about forty minutes. Finally, Emily decided to swim back and get them. So we waited and before she was halfway there, the boat came. She continued to swim and he picked us up. Erin was not pleased - they left us without water, life vests or sunblock or any way of getting back. Welcome to the middle east!

We got back and had some lunch (Indian style biryani of course) and then we set out back for Dibba. Once we got back and into the van we pretty much all fell asleep. Fortunately, Hasan the driver seemed to have taken a nap while we were gone and he got us safely home.

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Photos

Me and Akram
My last issue of Employee of the Month

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Farewell
Great fun.