Musandam Trip

We set out to travel to Musandam for a weekend at the the end of April.  Usually, this is a time when we begin to hunker down for the summer, with minimal travel outside.  But the weather seemed to be holding off, and we had anyway planned this for some time so we set off on a Friday morning from Dubai (having parked at a friend’s place in Dubai the previous night).

We left Dubai around 9:45 am and reached the Oman border around 12:00 pm.  We drove quite comfortably as it was a long convoy (about 8 cars), with lots of kids so we had a few pit stops on the way.  There was not much of a rush at the border, and we were through the UAE side within 20-25 minutes.  Considering there were approximately 20 adults in our group (plus children), that was quite a feat.  This was also the only border that I have crossed where we had to pay to exit – AED 35 per head (including the kids).  Strange, but thats the UAE for you.  Next stop – the Oman side of the border. Now most of us had gotten our Oman visas from the respective embassies in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, so we expected that the proceedings will be quick.  Well, here’s a tip – the difference in times between applying for a visa at the border and just stamping your passport (with prearranged visa) is so marginal, that you shouldn’t bother getting a visa in advance.  Now, do note that this was our experience at a specific point of time – I can imagine the process would be much more harrowing (particularly at the Omanis side) when the weather is better, its a long weekend, etc.

Anyway, with the border formalities completed, we headed onto the coastal drive to Khasab.  This is where the landscape is magically transformed into what must be the most scenic drive in all Arabia.  It is difficult to convey the meaning through a photograph, so picture a nice undulating road with a brilliant turquoise sea on your left and the most interesting mountains on your right.  You are practically at sea level and most of the stretch is one long beach.  The mountains are also quite interesting and while I am no geologist, I can safely say that these particular rocks must have had a very interesting story.  They have very intricate patterns that seem almost man-made.  And the funny thing is the patterns change from one mountain to the next.  Strange.

Having left a little early from Dubai, we stopped at a nice little hut on a stretch of beach (26.0991N, 56.1130E) to stop and have some late breakfast.  It was 12:30 pm and quite warm, but it was nice to get out and stretch a bit.  The kids enjoyed the sand and we wolfed down quite a bit of grub.

After packing up and disposing off the traash in the strategically placed bins (a very cool and amazing feature of Oman), we continued on the drive towards Khasab.  The road soon picked up altitude and is reasonably steep in some places.  However, nothing that a normal saloon car cant handle, and the road is in excellent condition.  However, the views from the high altitude perch are breathtaking.  The only problem is that its a single lane road, so we couldn’t stop all that we wanted to take some pictures.

At around 8:30 pm, we decided to take a quick peek around Khasab town to see whether there was any interesting stuff there.  Either there wasn’t, or we couldn’t find it.  We had heard reports of a museum of some sort, but werent really in the mood for that kind of holiday, so we just returned back to the resort.  We had some evening entertainment (wink) and then went down to have dinner.  The grills were excellent, but if you are vegetarian, you need to watch out – there are not too many options there apart from the salads, etc.  However, the tiger prawns were sumptuous so I was pretty satiated by the end of it all.

Next morning was the dhow cruise and we were supposed to leave “early” to get the dhow at the port.  As we were a large group (19 adults plus kids), we had the dhow to ourselves.  Fat chance of anything in the realm of “early” – by the time we got to the port, it was well past 10 am.  Anyways, we got into the dhow, which was a standard affair with very low-slung barricades, obviously meant to be in the calm, inshore waters.  We were a fairly boisterous crowd as we got in and went out, the kids eagerly waiting for the dolphins and wondering whether they would jump into the boat!

Initially we did not see any dolphins, so the dhow captain (for want of a better word) was whistling out to them and making some strange calls – I don’t know whether it was a coincidence or he can indeed communicate with them in the deep, but the dolphins did surface after some time and we were eventually rewarded with the sight of four of these beautiful animals swimming alongside our boat and having a good time.

After the dolphins, we turned around and headed back to Telegraph Island, where out came the snorkels and some of us jumped out into the (quite saline) water.  Wish I had some underwater images of the corals (soon, soon).

We then headed back to the port, and the resort to pack, have lunch and head back to the UAE.  The drive back was spectacular as well, with the sun directly in front of us across the Straits of Hormuz.  At one point, your car is pointing down an incline and all you see ahead is the sea – its just like an infinity pool, except you sub-consciously feel like revalidating your brakes!  The journey across the border was uneventful, quick and we were back into the UAE.  The difference is noticeable almost immediately – I felt Oman was a much cleaner place.  I had to drive back to Abu Dhabi, so I made the 400 km trip in a single run and was home by 11 pm, tired but exhilarated.

Musandam is beautiful, its certainly worth a visit (or two).  While we stayed at the Golden Tulip Resort ( my rating – 3.5/5), other options include camping out.  The infrastructure for camping seemed pretty decent.  We may try that the next time round.

Some more pictures are at my Photo Gallery.

Here is a Google map of the dhow cruise.