Musandam, Oman

We drove to the northern most part of Oman, the Musandam peninsula, and we were on a mission to look for dolphins. Well, that is one typical attraction there, where we'd spend a day on a dhow cruise and hopefully get a glimpse of the resident dolphins that frolic in the fjord.

The drive into Musandam was, for lack of a better word, breathtaking. The mountains rise straight out of the sea, and the lack of vegetation gave it a stark, even treacherous feel but it was still undeniably majestic. The 4 hour drive, with the girls getting stir crazy by the hour, was very worth it. We checked into Esra apartment hotel, a very basic DIY service apartment with a pool, but very pretty restaurant. It was almost dinner time by that time, so we tucked into some local Arabic fare and soon after, the four of us fell asleep on the double twin beds.

Driving into Musandam


Esra apartment hotel ... the restaurant was the only thing worth taking a photo of

The morning of the dhow cruise. After digging into a breakfast of three kinds of eggs (plain omelette, hard boiled and then veggie omelette), we went to the nearby harbour to hop into the dhow. Sera was very excited and even more so that her friend, Elin, would be on board. Elin and her family had also planned this trip together with us. After fitting the girls with life-vests, we crossed over several dhows to reach our very own. Our dhow looked like somebody's very own living room. The deck of the boat was covered in Arabic carpet, and all around the boat were plump cushions that were just wanting to be sat on. It was perfect!

We sat sail on the dot, at 9.30am, and made out way into the 17-km fjord. The scenery was surprisingly beautiful, serene, and the calm water enclosed by the soaring mountains made us feel like we were entering an almost magical place. We caught a glimpse of isolated villages (and remnant of) that were almost camouflaged into the mountains, and also coastal villages that still subsisted on fishing as a simple way of life. But the highlight was of course the dolphins and they did not fail. Just a few minutes into the fjord, we were greeted by a family of 5 dolphins. They swam by the dhows and dove in and out, gracefully and with such speed. Thankfully the dhow is a very steady boat because all of us (probably 40 passengers) went to the right side of the boat to marvel and exclaim at them.

Getting fitted into safety gear before setting off

Yasmin was not happy with her life vest, which of course came off eventually

Sera was beaming throughout the day ...

Yasmin was ready for her nap when the dhow set sail

Dolphins!

They visited with us twice during the day

The rest of the day was spent lazing on the boat, snorkelling at Telegraph Island and another enclosed bay. Johan and I took turns to swim with the girls so it worked out really well. Sera, Elin, Yasmin and Erik had great time on the boat, just cruising around and helping themselves with the fruit basket. Between the four kids, they probably ate an apple tree and a whole bunch of bananas.

We arrived back at the harbour at exactly 4pm. We were tired, sticky from the salty air and water, but it felt extremely good. All of us could barely sit through dinner but were very grateful to crawl into bed at 7.45PM. Ha ha. Ahh, why not?

Sera and Elin scoffing down apples throughout the day

Everyone just chilling out

Snorkelling at Telegraph Island. It was here that Sera and I swam from the boat to a tiny rocky island on the left.

Yasmin had a long sleep in the morning. Here she had just woken up, and waiting to have her lunch

I stood by the captain to get this shot of the dhow

Lounging on the cushions

On our day of departure, we set off right after breakfast and on the drive out of Musandam, we couldn't resist stopping at one of the isolated, almost perfect beaches. The girls were more than happy to get out of the car, and excitedly raced to the water's edge. Sera and I went shell picking, while Yasmin busied herself with the sand and pails. Eventually and very reluctantly, we had to say goodbye to Musandam and drive the 4 hour journey back to Dubai. We had a great weekend, hope yours was even better!

Feeling very at home on one of the beaches at Musandam