Gym's Ramblings: Return to Muscat

Since the ship had nothing better to do as we headed towards the Horn of Africa we returned to Muscat yesterday. As you recall we were here after crossing the Indian Ocean from India, before we entered the Persian Gulf. We had such a positive experience here the first time that neither of us thought that a repeat visit was necessarily a bad thing. In a nutshell, Muscat is spotless and feels very safe. It has plenty of old world charm and yet it is very modern too. It is quite an extraordinary place.

We had no organized tour, so we made up our own tour again. We took the bus into the souk in the old town and there we met Naji Al Mashrafi, who we learned is an Omani National and a proud member of one of the ‘Big Four’ families in this beautiful country. Naji asked us if we would like a private tour. We had already seen the Palace, the Grand Mosque, the fish market and the souk in old town, so we told him we were interested in going to the beach because we thought we had seen it all. In the literature that we received on the ship, we read that Bandar Jisswah Beach was highly recommended, so we asked if he could take us there? He told us that we would not enjoy that particular beach and that the place we should really go to was The Omani Diving Centre. He further stated that he would take us there for 10 Rials ($36 U.S.). The guy looked a little like one of the O’Donoghue boys from down the street that I grew up on, so I thought we could trust him and off we went.

Sometimes you have to go with your gut. This guy did not steer us wrong. He took us to the most beautiful place that I have ever seen. The Omani Diving Centre is located at the end of a long and shallow, protected bay. The beach at the end of the bay is flanked on both sides by high, rocky cliffs. The cliffs are wind worn at the top and wave worn at the bottom. From the beach the bay runs out to the east and then turns to the north before opening into the Arabian Sea. Looking east from the beach you can see the Shangra La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort property, which is perched up on the adjacent cliffs. The whole scene is almost surreal it is so beautiful. Sadly the pictures do not do this place justice, you have to see it to believe it.

We knew our limit at the beach was about 1.5 hours in 44 degree C heat so we trustingly asked Naji to come back after 2 hours. As in Fujairah with our Pakistani friend, there was no deposit asked for and we did not pay for the trip from the port. And just like in Fujairah our driver was there, waiting for us at the appointed time.

Naji then commenced to give us the royal treatment and much more than we asked for on the way back to the port. Without us having paid him a nickel for the ride from town, he toured us though the Barr Al Jissah Resort, The Intercontinental’s, Al Bastan Palace where Queen Elizabeth, Hilary Clinton, Nicolas Sarkozy have all stayed, the Muscat Aquarium and several beautiful photo stops on the way back to town. At every stop he knew all the locals and we probably got into a couple of places that you normally wouldn’t be allowed to go if you didn’t have a guy like Naji with you. And to top it all off, he scooped up 8 large fish identification posters when we were at the aquarium and gave them to me to take back to Canada. He would not let me say no to this gift and now I have to figure out what crewmembers might want them because there is no way to get them home.

We have a real good buddy in Oman now. Raji gave us his card and told us that if any of my family or friends ever planned a trip to Oman to let him know. Just don’t come in May, June, July or August. The temperature goes up to 50 degrees C in the summer and Raji will be at his summer home in Salalah.

We will be in Salalah tomorrow! We are currently at sea heading south and it is cooler out here than it is in Muscat. The temperature is 28 degrees C and there is a nice little breeze. We have about 248 nautical miles to go and we are supposed to rattle that distance off before 8 am tomorrow morning, our scheduled docking time.