Oman

First stop in Oman was Khasab. It’s a port city and separated from mainland Oman by the UAE.

The big attraction here is the “fjord.” It’s not really a fjord because it wasn’t created by glaciers but was beautiful, nevertheless. Unlike the UAE, Oman was very mountainous. We took a traditional Dhow (boat) through the waterway. The boat was beautiful and very comfortable. There was dolphins in the waters. We thought it was fun to see the dolphins but we all got irritated because the boats were all chasing the dolphins and wouldn’t leave them alone. It got really frustrating after a while. This definitely was NOT responsible tourism. There were also a bunch of jellyfish. These didn’t sting but the kids were all itchy after the swim. I didn’t go in the water because of my ear infection. Didn’t want to chance it.

We went to the capital of Muscat where we took a driving tour through the city and stopped at a mosque. We couldn’t do in because it was Friday and was closed. Our tour guide was very cute. She said she wanted to have a career before getting married and that 28 seems like the right age for that. They still marry their first cousins, though. That seemed really weird to us. But, she wanted to emphasize that the girls can say no to the men the parents set them up with.

Here are some views of Muscat.

We are off to 5 ship days before reaching Jordan.