Since we were in the United Arab Emirates and the country was so close, we thought we would take a stop to visit Oman for the day! The interesting thing about Oman is that it has two exclaves separated from it by the United Arab Emirates, the Musandam Peninsula and Madha. We visited the Musandam Peninsula and it the views were absolutely stunning.
We used Arabia Horizon Tours to take us from Dubai to Musandam, since this was an easy option and we were looking for a bit of relaxation. The total time of the tour was 10 hours and that included transportation from and to our hotel, getting from the U.A.E. to Oman, a Dhow cruise along the fjords of Musandam, snorkeling (equipment included), hand fishing (equipment included), lunch, and the cost of the visa to get into Oman! This all cost only $95 per person so we felt it was a very good deal.
The drive from Dubai to Dibba, a town right past the border of Oman, took about 2 hours and along the way we saw camels, a lot of rock formations, and of course SAND!
When we arrived at the border, we were given our tourist visas and 2 border officers came on board the tour bus to check both the visa and passport. After getting cleared to cross the border, it was only a very short drive to the dock where the Dhow ship was waiting.
Once on board, it was time to relax, something that we typically do very little of when traveling, so it was nice to lounge out on the Dhow and enjoy the beautiful views and weather.
It took around 30-45 minutes before we arrived in a cove where there were other Dhows. We chose to do some swimming and not do any snorkeling because there were not that many fish to see and we just wanted to take in the views above water. They did provide life jackets but the water was so salty, we practically floated without trying and we did not need them.
We did give riding on a banana boat a try, and while it normally would have been fun, the board driver seemed to purposely tip us over and the second time around, we both got the wind knocked out of us and it hurt!
Before we knew it, lunch was ready and it was a buffet of middle-eastern dishes, such as rice and chicken. They also had fruits and drinks and it was all very good.
After everyone had their fill of food, we started heading back toward Dibba and on the way, they stopped the Dhow to do some line fishing. Neither one of us was lucky enough to catch anything, but a few other people in our tour group did. After that, we continued on to Dibba and finally, back on the tour bus.
We were exhausted after such a long day, that we ended up passing out on the drive to the hotel and before we knew it, we were there! It was such an amazing experience to get to see the breathtaking sites that the Musandam Peninsula had to offer and of course, we checked another country off the list!
