We had 2 stops in the Sultanate of Oman: Muscat and Salalah
with a sea day in between. While the capital city Muscat doesn’t have the wealth and size of Abu Dhabi or Dubai, it is a modern city with stores like IKEA. Our visit was limited to the seaside community. Oman is not a
common country to visit, but I had once seen a travel article that spoke highly
of it.It is on the Arabian Peninsula
bordering the Arabian Sea.It buts up
against UAE and Yemen – we're skipping ports in Yemen.Oman has nice coasts, mountains and deserts
plus the southern part gets monsoons, so it gets green during the rainy season.
Muscat
We chose to do a dolphin and snorkeling trip in Muscat.It was a 15 to 20 minute drive from the port
to the marina where the boat was.Along
the way we saw a well maintained city and since it is the capital we saw their
parliament building and a palace plus shops and a resort with a gold dome.
Old Muscat, once occupied by the Portuguese
Parliament
I have noticed that the Arabian Sea is full
of marine wildlife.We saw lots of
dolphins on our dolphin watch adventure plus a couple sets of sea turtles
mating, a flying fish, and an eagle successfully fishing.
Upper left Sea Turtles Mating Upper right Dauphin
Click below for a brief Dolphin video
Click [ ] bottom right to enlarge
Our snorkeling spot was up a deep narrow cove with high walls. We were
able to snorkel for an hour where we saw some coral and lots of fish.While a fair amount of the coral was
deadlooking, I did see some purple and neon green coral too.Others on the boat were saying they saw a parrot
fish, a clown fish, a puffer.I know I
saw a clown fish and then I saw just pretty colorful fish – rose one, bright
blues, vibrant yellows.On our way back to the Marina our boat driver took us through some sandstone arches and into little
lagoons and pointed out a couple of very nice looking beach resorts.The area is quite inviting and definitely a
good spot for people who like the water.We are here in the summer and it is quite hot, our guide said most people
come and visit in the winter when it is cooler but still warm enough for the
beach.
Two different natural arch’s large enough for us to drive a boat through
Upper left, looks like a cat on a rock Upper Right Resort
Back at the Ship we watched the sun set over the mountains. Our ship was sharing the port with not one, but two large Yachts owned by the Sultan. Across the bay is an old Castle/Fort. Looking in another direction you see the Riyam monument which looks like a giant incense burner. It’s even more spectacular at night as it lights up and changes colors. It was built to commemorate the 20th National Day of Oman.
Sultans two yachts
Fort on left
Riyam Monument
Salalah
I had never heard of this city before the cruise.Which is not surprising since its populations
is around 250,000.It has a very
different feel to it than Muscat because this part of
Oman historically had close ties to Africa.The people tend to have darker skin, there are fruits and vegetables
that are more common in Africa.Additionally, this is the part of Oman that gets the monsoons so there
are lush banana, papaya, coconut and other plantations around the area.Here we decided to do an excursion geared to
history.We were skeptical that there
would be much to see in this port, like Sabang Indonesia we were happily wrong.It was a Friday so we could only drive by the
outside of any mosques, but we did get to tour a UNESCO Heritage site, a fruit
market and sneak into a shop.Salalalah
is known worldwide for frankincense.It
is from trees that are up in the mountains near here.Starts as a sap like maple syrup but hardens
into little rocks.This was a trading
port for centuries and frankincense has always been one of the reasons why it
was popular – Portuguese were here for years and various sultans.
Lush landscape along the highway
Those are farms on either side of the road
Large Hypermarket on top contrasts Road side stands on bottom
On our tour we made several quick stops: the outside of Taqa castle which is in town, a recreation of what a farmers home used to be like and a seasonal water fall. We spent a little more time at Bin Ali’s tomb. The castle and hut were interesting to see, but that is all I can say. The waterfall was dry, but the stain gave a good indication of what its like in the Monsoon season.
Taqa Castle
Recreation of traditional housing
Bigger than it looked from the outside
White-stain on the right is where the water would have been
Now Sumhuram is the UNESCO site.It reminded Jeff and I of the ruins we saw
last year in Greece and Turkey.It was
from the 3rd century BC.We
saw tools that the archeologists had found, room types had been identified for example one area was marked as shops.All of this was up a hill
and down it further you could see some small buildings from stacked rock.Then there was a nice harbor that probably
had been enclosed at one time but now was brackish with some sea water getting
in.There were also camels down at the
beach of the former harbor just wading through the water.Camels here were almost as common as sheep
were in Scotland last year.The guides
said they had found all sorts of relics that showed these people had traded
with people from various places as far away as Indonesia and Southern Africa.
You can imagine guards at the entrance to the harbor This building had a great view
Then it was on to Bin Ali’s tomb.It is a small building that is a religious
site.The tomb is ensconced in green
velvet fabric – the color green was important, but I unfortunately forget
why.Our guide explained that Bin Ali
was a descendent of Muhammed and that he had done good things for the people of
this area.He emphasized that he was not
a prophet because there is only 1 prophet in Islam.
From there we stopped a fruit stand to have coconut water
and to oogle the market.Jeff and I are
jealous they had a much wider selection of fruits and vegetables then we have
in Alabama.We had to ask what some
things were – looked kind of like a huge gourd, but most things we recognized.Our last stop was ata shop that opened for us to check out
frankincense and a little bit of souvenirs.After that it was time to go back to the ship.It was 2 in the afternoon, but that is the
beginning of lunch for them so we just stayed on the ship for the rest of the
day.
The United Arab Emirates or the Emirates for short is an elective monarchy. The 7 Sultans form a council an elect a leader amongst themselves. In practice the largest Emirates rule the nation. Each Sultan then rules his Emirate.
The population is divided between locals with Emirate passports and a very large number of “Residents” who have obtained a work Visa. Outsiders who wish to invest in the country must either partner with a local, who will control 51% or invest in one of the Free zones. A free zone is limited to specific industries.
Blue anchors are the ports we visited Sailed through the Straight of Hormuz at top
Fujairah
Our first of three stops in the UAE: Fujairah. It is on the tip of a peninsula that juts into the Gulf of Oman. They are just starting to accept cruise ships, so the port was a shipping/cargo/oil port. Having said that, it was very clean and they had set up a temporary building for an immigration site. Fujairah is a seaport with a mountain range right in its back door - the Hagar Mountains. Unfortunately, it was a quick stop so touring options were limited. Jeff and I chose the tour that took us to a beach resort.
We enjoyed our stay and were the last ones to get back on the bus and only then because Jeff had a sense of the time! It was a Le Meridien hotel that was a high-rise with interesting architecture and quite nice inside (well what I saw as I walked through the lobby and out the back of the resort!). There was a nice multi-faceted pool. There were different levels, different shapes coming out from the main, large vaselike structures in it and lots of chairs and umbrellas around it. The beachside was probably 3 to 5 acres so there was some grass and some outbuildings like a bar and changing facilities before you then made it to the beach. The beach itself is where Jeff and I hung out for a couple of hours. We had 2 chairs under a large beach umbrella. We settled in and promptly went for a beach walk. The sand was a nice light brown with just a few shells. Interestingly, they had rock walls (large single width rocks) that separated some of the resorts on the beach. On one side we had a local resort and on the other was the Intercontinental Hotel resort. The water was very clear and a little cool which felt wonderful since it was around 100 degrees with 42 percent humidity. They had a lifeguard and an area roped off with buoys for you to swim in. The water was quite calm and we wished we had noodles to float on. We struck up a conversation with a dad whose daughter did have a noodle, a Brit who had lived in the States for awhile. He told us that the little fish we had seen jumping in swarms by the buoys were sardines and there were more swimming by the buoys. We swam out there unfortunately we did not see any fish. We sat around a little and enjoyed an alcholic drink each and then had to go. Yeah I had to add the part that they served us a beer and a hard cider in a Muslim country. Seems some of the hotels and a few bars are licensed to serve alcohol.
Le Meridian Al Aqah Beach Resort
Abu Dhabi
For our second port, we chose an Al Khatim Desert by
Off Road excursion today.Abu Dhabi is a
cruise ship port unlike the last one that was a commercial port.Right now it is a small port, but the
terminal building is completed and pretty nice.They are also working on getting some retail and entertainment at the
port too.During the day it did not look
like much, but at night it was lit up and I could see food trucks open and
people there.Lots of construction in the
port area (well lots of cranes off in all sorts of directions to be honest) so
in a couple of years it will be very different and probably nice.
We could see some interesting looking buildings from the
port.Like one that is kind of an
unusual upside-down platter with something happening on the roof – turned out
to be their outpost of the Louvre.We
also saw lots of interesting skyscrapers - not many boring glass boxes
here.Happily, we passed many sites on
our way to the desert and our driver was happy to tell us what we were
seeing.Many of the unusual, shaped
buildings are actually residential property – condos.Another thing they do to their buildings is
cover a basic glass high-rise with metal work.On one building nicknamed the pineapple building the metal has louvers
built in so when the sun is shining on it the metal closes to keep the building
cooler and when the side is in the shade the louvers open, and it is all
automatic.
Louvre
We passed the Sheik Zayed Mosque which is a humongous white
mosque.It is an operating mosque but
also quite touristy.Our driver pointed
out the ticket building.He made a point
of slowing down so we could take photos.We have seen lots of construction on this cruise especially road
construction but while driving we saw our first train track construction.They are building a train route from Riyad, Saudi Arabia to Dubai via Abu Dhabi . He explained how most of
the land we were seeing was reclaimed from the sea.While we were in town, there were flower beds
in the medians and lots of greenery all on sprinkler systems.They have water desalinization plants for water.Our tour was in an area called desert safari
– I know because there is English on all the signs underneath or next to the
Arabic.
Sheik Zayed Mosque
Once we got to the safari entrance area.He deflated the tires of our Toyota LandRover
so that we could drive around in the desert.He said how much he deflated them was determined by the temperature
outside.Well, it is HOT there.As in we started out at 42* Celsius and went
up to 50* which means we hit 122* Fahrenheit while we were in the desert.Very glad Toyota’s have a strong air
conditioning system!Our driver took the
tires from 42psi down to 12psi.The four
of us in the SUV were wondering how you could drive at all with such little
pressure in the tires!Drive we did oh
my did we drive.A friend had said this
is kind of a like a roller coaster which turned out to be a good
description.We went up, we went
straight down, we went sideways down the dune, we went up and then sideways up
and all sorts of variations. We were required to be buckled in, but still found
ourselves up against each other at times.Surprisingly there is the occasional tree in the desert.Abu Dhabi officials have tagged all of them
and water them regularly as needed.We
stopped by one for a photo break and to let the SUVs’ engine cool off
some.After the photo break we drove
around a little more and then went to a “camp” they have for evening programs
where we had refreshments and they re inflated the tires.After that it was time to head back to the
ship with our guide describing things along the way and pointing out photos of
their Sheik and telling positive stories about the current leader and his
father.
Top car ahead sliding over edge Bottom - note our hood in relation to horizon
Click on brief video below
After a short break at the ship, Jeff and I headed out to
the Marina Mall because we had more time in the city and we could get there for
free.The mall was by a marina, and it
was in a slightly different direction, so we got to see more unique buildings
so more building pictures!The mall
itself had large metal sculptures by the entrance doors including a large fish
being caught by the one we used.It was
nice to wander around a well air-conditioned spot for a while and to window
shop some.We were pleasantly surprised
to see a British Chain – Marks and Spencer there so we bought some salty snacks
for our cabin – sweets are easy to find on the ship but not salty things.Had to check out a department store a little
bit and a Costco like store while we were there.We even ate dinner there for a change of
pace.We went high quality – a fast food
chain.We had first seen it in Singapore
and laughed at the name - Texas Chicken.We could have eaten at McDonalds or Kentucky Fried Chicken since they
too were there, but we went with the more local version.It was pretty good and the first fried
chicken we had in a while.Time to head
back to the ship and enjoy the skyline from it.
Dubai
Dubai is a major city. We chose to do a hop on hop off tour that had the Dubai Mall as a central location. We did the "modern Dubai' route of the bus plus we went up the Al Khalif tower and wandered around the mall a little. We saw lots of unique buildings and lots and lots of traffic even though it was an 8 lane road. This seems to be a city where people are always trying to outdo each other. For instance, there is an area called the "tall block". It is a block of residential towers but not just any residential towers. When each one was completed, it was the tallest residential building in the world. Have to admit what came to my mind was the negative stories I heard of a super tall condo building in New York and how it swayed so much it bothered the residents in the high floors.
We also saw the Dubai Marina area which is partially reclaimed from the sea and on the water. It has a marina with lots of yachts and a nice shopping area called the Dubai Marina Walk. Mind boggling to me is a series of high-rise condos on the water that are connected with a joint lobby type area that went on for like over a kilometer and the buildings are home to 25,000 people. I sat there and stared thinking that is a whole town in those buildings! And it is set up like a small town, I saw a nursery school, mosques and shops. It was kind of mind blowing to me to think that is the equivalent of Kirkwood in front of me in such a small area!
Palm Island with Atlantis
As we were driving towards Palm Island, I saw people I thought parasailing. Nope they were skydiving from a building. Palm Island is a huge artificial island that has residential areas, commercial/shopping areas and the Atlantis Resort. In the residential area, the further out on the palm frond your house is, the more expensive it was. Atlantis Resort is basically at the end of the island and is quite impressive. They have completed the construction of another palm shaped island that will be for recreational purposes.
Google Maps Satellite view
Atlantis in the distance
Rapid transit system
Being a city that is out to impress, the rapid transit system had to be special. The stations we saw were impressive from the outside (did not go in) and were told that the trains are driverless. We did see trains go by from the bus.
Metro Station
Museum of the Future
Khalif Tower is the tallest building in the world these days. We went up to the 124 and 125 floors there are a couple of higher floors that you can visit too. We got several good pictures and most people were doing selfies against the backdrop. The unfortunate thing is it was a hazy day so we could not see as much as we had hoped from the observation deck.
think that is the tall block
dancing fountain is the water in the picture - similar to Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas
Dubai Mall
We were now quite hungry, so we went into the adjoining mall in search of food. Today we ended up in an Italian restaurant that showed fresh noodles at the front - we shared a nice pizza. Then it was off to find the indoor Olympic Sized ice-skating rink so we could send Cierra a picture. There is also an aquarium in the mall. In one area, you can see part of one of the large tanks, so we stopped for a few minutes and saw a swordfish, and some large sting rays, and couple types of sharks. In yet another area, there was a large waterfall fountain with sculptures of men pearl diving attached to it. When I say large, I mean 2 story or so tall and twice as long as pictured below.
Finally, we tried to do the old town Dubai tour only to find out we had just missed it, so we headed back to the ship for the day.
