Rhys looks over the Dhow Boat-Building Yards of Sur
After a decent lie in, quick feed and braving the searing heat, we had a look around Sur and it’s Dhow boat building yard which since it was the weekend, wasn’t very active. With every boat carved by hand, the town has been regional centre of this traditional activity for over 300 years.
Dave and Fintan near Sur
Heading further south towards Ras Al Haad, we had a lovely coastal and desert drive. Oman is a big off-roading destination so we decided to get involved and went joy-riding around the desert to take the Hummer through it’s paces. At one point, looking over a vast expansive desert, we had an ingenious idea to get some good footage of the Hummer disappearing out into the desert.
The Hummer nearly gets stuck!
Funnily enough this is nearly what happened, after Dave sped into the desert with a cloud of sand behind him, only to almost get stuck in muddy and sinking sand! He managed to just about keep momentum and returned to the lads in a shattered mess, fully believing he was going to die in quick-sand!
Rhys outside our Barasti Huts in Ras Al Haad
Sticking firmly to the tarmac for a while, we reached the Turtle Resort in Ras Al Haad. This lovely beach hut accommodation, run by Indians, has its own lovely beach and a relaxed atmosphere. Rhys and Fintan, sweaty after a long drive, legged it in for a quick snorkel and were lucky enough to just avoid a poisonous Morey Eel who passed close-by!
The Spotted Morey Eel that nearly caught us snorkling!
Back on dry land, the lads found a fishing rod and had a crack at catching the dinner for that evening. Rhys being the bloke that he is, formulated a bread and honey concoction that he was adamant was irresistible to fish. Out on the pier, there wasn’t much action. He will argue strongly against this, but Rhys was the only person to get a solid bite on the line, and completely bottled it, letting our dinner escape!
Dave tries to knock Fintan off the floating pier while he's fishing!
We had a lovely fish dinner at the resort and met a nice English couple who were off-roading around Oman, as well as a travelling Australian couple. After dinner, Dave, Rhys and Fintan along with the other two couples headed to the main attraction in the area, Raz Al-Jinz beach, the Easternmost Point in the Arabian Gulf and a major nesting site for the endangered green turtle. 20,000 turtles return annually to this exact location to lay their eggs during night. The whole area is under government protection and we took a guided tour of the beach to witness these gentle giants nesting. As everyone knows, these guys don’t move too fast and the extraordinary process takes about two hours before they crawl back into the ocean.
A Green Turtle lays her eggs at Ras Al Jinz Beach
DAY 134 ROUTEMAP
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