The solitude of the Musandam Peninsula
While staying in Dubai, we decided to head out of the city and go somewhere a bit more remote. Therefore we decided to take a side trip to the Musandam Peninsula, in Oman. We left on an organized tour early in the morning and the journey took around three hours. On the way we had the chance to see other parts of the United Arab Emirates. While Dubai is all about luxury and glamour, and Sharjah has become almost a suburb of Dubai, other emirates such as Ras al Khaimah and Ajman are a bit more remote. Until recently, Dubai looked like these places – and for the first time we really felt like we were in the Middle East.
There, we boarded a traditional dhow boat and took a sail in the fjords of Musandam.
This really is a remote place. The entire population of the area is around 20,000 and villages were small and far between. This is a shot of the largest settlement we saw.
The following is a shot of a traditional dhow boat. Ours was similar to this one, though a bit nicer.
The wildlife in this area was superb. Several dolphins began following our boat and I tried to get a good shot of one. The boat drivers, of course, drove the boat in a way to encourage the dolphins to follow and another tourist boat near us helped out. I’m sure back in the states there are environmental laws against doing this, but out there it is whatever brings tourist dollars (or euros these days).
We also went snorkeling there and had an opportunity to see myriad types of fish. Unfortunately the mask I had didn’t fit me very well and I wound up spending the time in the boat. Although the snorkeling was nice, I think Thailand and Hawaii were a bit better.
Altogether it was a very nice day trip, though a bit long after we drove the three hours back to our hotel. I would definitely like to see other parts of Oman some day, such as the old forts and the city of Muscat. On a funny side note, the Omani passport stamp is huge and contains a lot of Arabic. Upon returning to the US and coming back from our subsequent trip we had a lot of questions to answer when entering the country…