I finally decided to give Oman another try. If you keep up with the blog, you know that I made a farcical attempt to drive to the Oman coast in January. Well, this time I was going to the coast again, but there is only one road to get there--so I liked my chances. I was headed north to the Musandam Peninusla, a part of Oman that is cut off from the rest of the country by the UAE, and also forms the southern coast of the Straits of Hormuz. It's also known as the Norway of the middle east with it's fjords and islands. I also took a navigator with me this time, Greg, ex-FAA from DFW, who is training on my crew--thus we have common days off.
Anyway, we took off early in the morning for Kahsab, Oman. It was about a 3 hour drive with an uneventful border crossing.
The road in Oman hugs the coast with some sections of the road carved out of the mountains and cliffs that fall into the sea. We saw several areas that had suffered rock slides, which seem to be pretty common. But the scenery was pretty awesome. The day was hazy, so I imagine a nice clear winter day will make an even better trip.
We stopped at a little fort along the way and took a few pics. We arrived in Kahsab around 10am. We signed up for a dhow cruise up the inlet and since it wasn't til 1pm that gave us a little time for lunch and finding souveniers. I'm collecting flags for my son, Max, and we actually stumbled on a tailor who sews flags. Other than that, souveniers were pretty few and far between. Kahsab, is the biggest city in this part of Oman and it is pretty small...like about the size of Hamilton, GA.
Lunch proved interesting. The diner we picked also doubled as the school lunch room for the local boys school--mostly middle school age. So we had lunch with about a dozen youngs kids. A couple of them tried to talk to us in English, but most of them just talked about us.
Our cruise was pretty nice; we had the dhow to oursleves along with 2 guides. Spectacular (if barren and devoid of life) scenery, lots of geese and some playful dolphins. We also stopped to do a little snorkelling...saw a few fish.
On the trip up, Greg was reading from the guide book and it mentioned that alot of smuggling went on, with boats running cigarettes across the straits to Iran (about 45 miles). We had about forgotten about it until we were coming into the harbor and saw about 7-8 boats headed out laden with large boxes wrapped in grey, and trucks loading more boats at the quay. The boats were about 20-25ft, open, with a couple outboards on the back. Obviously, if it's in the guide book, the authorities on either side of the straits care little about this enterprise or are recieving their cut of the profits.
On the way home, we stopped at the famous Barracuda, a tax-free liquor store in Umm Al Qaiwain (alcohol is taxed at 35% in Dubai). Many folks make what are called "Barracuda runs." The danger lies in bringing the product back to Dubai since you have to travel thru the dry emirate of Sharjah. The odds are small, but if you are stopped or get in an accident, you can be in serious trouble. There are also stories of people being followed from the Barracuda until the get to Sharjah where they will get 'bumped.' For a price, the bumpee promises not to call the authorities.
We made some calls, bought some for ourselves and friends in Dubai and hit the road--we weren't followed and the trip was uneventful.
Overall, it was a good day trip--but wait til a nice crystal clear day in the fall or winter. Until then, enjoy our trip.
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