Owen and I in the desert after climbing dunes by a Bedouin village
Sunrise on the beach
Sur, beach town with beautiful promenade and packed games of beach soccer
Inside a souk (market) in Muscat
The group in front of the Presidential Palace (home of Sultan Qaboos)
Fort protecting the Sultan's palace
It should be clear what this is
We had an awesome time in Oman, a tiny country of only 3 million people that gets very few American tourists but should get many more. It's an interesting example of a wealthy, friendly, peaceful Middle Eastern country that still has very conservative Islamic values.
In addition to the adventures I highlighted in the other posts, we had a lot of fun in Oman.
Our first day we spent driving up to the Jebel Shams, the highest mountain in Oman at 10,000 ft. It gave us some great views of the Grand Canyon of Oman - much like the Grand Canyon of the US but a little more narrow and with a few more goats and a lot less people. We spent the night in Nizwa, the traditional cultural capital of Oman.
Our second day was spent at a really nice beach resort, snorkeling and then relaxing. Nearby this beach, apparently a large portion of the economy comes from smuggling. Iranian pirates bring goats across the Gulf of Oman in speedboats and trade them for American cigarettes from the Omanis. The Omanis accept this arrangement both because it nets them goats and because (according to the guide book) "piracy is ingrained in the region's cultural heritage and the local people do not want to frown upon the past". I do not know the current goat-cigarette exchange rate though.
Our third day we drove through the desert sand dunes to an Omani beach where we saw nesting sea turtles. This was surprisingly cool. These huge sea turtles swim away as far as India, southern Africa and Australia during the year, but come back to nest in the same beach they were born at in Oman. During the peak season, there can be hundreds of turtles nesting on the beach every night. We saw about a dozen, but it was very cool. Once they got to the beach, they would let you come up and watch them dig a big hole, lay their eggs, and then bury them. Most nights baby turtles hatch and then swim off into the ocean, but we couldn't see any. We did have a guide who was exactly like Borat though. Niiice...
Our last day in Oman we drove along the scenic coastal road back up to Muscat, the capital city. We stopped for an hour and played in a huge limestone hole in the ground called the Demon's Crater. In Muscat, we toured the Sultan's Palace, mosque, and surrounding grounds which were beautiful. We then shopped in a cool market, or souq and got some Omani souvenirs. Finally, we went to a great Indian restaurant on a hill overlooking the city. We topped this all off with an M&M Blizzard from the Dairy Queen by the waterfront near our hotel.
After a week in Oman, I was quite impressed. It was amazing how quickly we got used to sheiks driving around speeding on desert roads in the saloon cars (non 4x4 vehicles, or sedans), the eerie but majestic sound of the call to prayer from the mosques five times a day, or the sight of women in burqas crossing the street as we listened to hip hop music on our ipods in our Hertz rental car. It was also amazing how culturally fascinating, scenic, and extremely friendly Oman and the Omani people were. While it was unbelievably expensive to visit, I still look forward to visiting again some day.
Today we got up bright and early, just after the morning call to prayer, to drive to the beach. We then hopped on a beat up old fishing boat Jason had arranged with a captain and a guide and set out into the Arabian sea.
About a half hour in we arrived at a tiny little island part way between Oman and Iran. Surprisingly the boat just dropped us off with some towels and snorkeling gear and told us they would be back for us in a few hours. While our island was quite beautiful with a white sandy beach surrounded by a brown rocky cliff, being left alone in the middle of nowhere Arabia was a bit unsettling. So we jokingly named our little island adventure Survivor Island Oman.
The snorkeling turned out to be absolutely incredible though. We had beautiful clear blue water and the most colorful coral I've ever seen. Tons of cool fish, a red shark, a few rays, and a pair of cuttlefish (like squid) mating which was incredible. There were also a number of sea turtles swimming around. My favorite, who I nicknamed Tommy the turtle, let me just swim around with him for like 30 minutes. Super cool.
In the end, the boat did come back for us and eventually brought us back to the mainland. We spent the rest of the afternoons and evening at a nice beach resort hanging out by the pool, playing ping pong, and relaxing. For dinner, they brought a grill and food to the patio outside our room and we barbecued some chicken tikka, lamb kebabs and jumbo prawns. A great dinner, but no cuttlefish.
