Trip to Musandam

As I said before, Jan & I were going to Musandam with some friends and their families yesterday. Everybody has been telling us since we arrived that we must go. For those who don't know where it is, here's a map. We left just after 7AM and drove up from Ras Al Khaimah (where we live) and crossed the border into Oman (the yellow bits) which is actually physically divided by some of the UAE. It's actually not that far, but dealing with the immigration procedures to exit the UAE and then enter Oman takes quite a while! The drive up the coast once you finally get into Oman is quite stunning. The mountains come right down to the road.
We arrived at the port just after 10AM, boarded our dhow and were soon heading out to sea and then into one of the main fjords in the area. It's known as the Norway of the Arabian Peninsula and was really very pretty. There's not much vegetation and there are few inhabitants but the rock formations are spectacular. We saw quite a few dolphins and the boats speed up and the dolphins 'ran' with the boats for quite a way before turning back. We anchored in a quiet bay for a swim and then had a lovely Arabic lunch of grilled fish, homus, salad etc. After lunch we slowly headed back, saw some more dolphins and lovely little villages, arriving back in the port about 4PM. (There are more photos in Our Photo Albums. Under Musandam.)
The drive back to RAK took us about 1 1/2 hours and it was dark by the time we got home. It was a lovely day and we look forward to doing it again should any of you visit us during the cooler months (it would be much too hot during summer I think).
I hope everybody is slowly recovering from the over indulgence of the festive season and looking forward to a happy and prosperous New Year.