Suddenly Finding Ourselves in Oman

Wake-up call at 05:00

Flight from Milan Malpensa with Swiss airline, with a stopover in Zurich and via Dubai. We left at 10:30 and set foot on Omani soil at around 23:10. Once again, the flight was excellent, no turbulence, everything very calm, and Swiss is truly a great airline, excellent service and treatment. As soon as you appear at the door of the plane to descend the stairs, the Omani heat hits you in the face in an almost suffocating way; of course it's all emphasized by the air conditioning kept very high on the plane, or in general it's kept blasting in all venues, and every time you find yourself outdoors you have at least a minute where you literally can't breathe. At the airport we quickly take care of the various bureaucratic formalities: for once the tourists' line is really short, about ten people in all, while the Omanis' line is quite long.

There isn't much info, but just inside the airport there's a counter that at first glance looks like just a currency exchange office: instead it serves a dual purpose: they exchange your money but more importantly you pay for the entry visa to the country: 15 euros each. Alessandro, our friend and travel companion, who arrived a day ahead of us, paid in rial and paid 6 rial; with us they certainly rounded up. Afterward, with this little receipt you go to passport control where, without having to fill out any form or immigration card, they actually put a one-month visa in your passport. We rented from Italy through TRIFTY a Toyota 4x4 4500cc for a week at a cost of $89 per day. Outside Alessandro is waiting for us, he already has the rental car and is waiting for us as our "driver" to take us to the hotel.

The only night booked from Italy via the internet at the Delmon hotel apartment at the price of 20 rial per room (about €37). The hotel is about thirty km from the airport and is located before Muscat. We chose it not only for the fairly acceptable rate (since the hotels are all rather expensive...) but also because it's near the OMAN DIVE CENTER where we'd like to go diving afterward. At the hotel they inform us that our small room smells too much of trichloroethylene used to clean the carpet and we wouldn't be able to sleep, so at the same price they give us an apartment with three rooms: bedroom, kitchen and living room... The hotel in my impression is slightly dated, but clean, so recommended for those who don't love too many frills.

Wake-up call at 07:20

Breakfast is included in the price, I'd call it good, given the varied choice available, but the first day it's always hard to get used to the idea of eating beans or tomatoes at eight in the morning... then as the days go by... Our plan involves a more or less circular route, arriving along a coastal road as far as the island of Masirah and then coming back up the other side, stopping whenever we feel like it. Let me say upfront that the Lonely Planet is the latest edition, 2008, but it still refers to 2006-2007 and consequently the data or info often turned out to be inaccurate or outdated. In our minds, reading the guide, we imagined a journey worthy of desert pioneers, where you ran the risk of not meeting anyone for a day or of not being able to find anything to eat, and so by virtue of that: off to buy supplies...

food that doesn't spoil quickly and gives you energy in case of hunger, etc... etc... In Muscat and its outskirts there are lots of shops or supermarkets... there's no difficulty finding what you need. Since our idea is to sleep in a tent (both to save money but also to experience a bit of real adventure and feel free...), Alessandro, whom from now on I'll call Alle, bought a nice two-person igloo tent for 14 rial (€25); it's true he most likely won't take it back to Italy but he didn't spend a fortune on it either and he saved some kilos on the plane. My advice: if you want to go camping, get a tent once you've arrived, don't worry about it from Italy, in Muscat you'll find everything. We brought a tent of about 2 kg in our backpack and here we only bought the sleeping mat, which cost 6.5 rial... which we'll then leave behind or give away....

After all our purchases we set off in the direction of Sur with a few stops along the way... The road is very nice, it's just been built but it lacks signs... every now and then we get lost and then find the road again... it's all part of the journey. It's already afternoon and before camping for the night we pass through Dibab and manage to see the BIMMAH SINKHOLE. The Lonely Planet describes it as an unmarked and hard-to-find place... now it's exactly the opposite... you find signs in both Arabic and English... It's a large brackish water pool of about 40 meters by 20 meters, the water is truly crystal clear, the only downside being the concrete work that's been done around it; to go down to the edge of the pool there are now concrete steps that certainly make the descent or climb back up easier... but I think it considerably loses its charm.

The colors of the water are truly splendid, to go down we took about fifty steps, all concrete... The whole thing is inside a park with the possibility of having a picnic too. The visit altogether doesn't take more than thirty minutes. Now all that's left is to find a place where we can camp... we look for what seems to us a suitable beach, also because until a few km before, instead of sand there were only stones. Near the small village of FINS small sand dunes begin: the area seems good to us. With our 4x4 we get close to the chosen area... Good, we decide we'll spend the night between two dunes to also be a bit sheltered from the wind. We quickly set up the two tents, take a little stroll along the beach and then eat a little something from our supplies. In a burst of energy, we also gather wood to light a small campfire.

Everything very new for us, and the idea of being free to sleep wherever you want, combined—even more importantly—with the idea of the safety you feel, makes us happy.

Wake-up call at 07:10

The cool breeze from the evening before stopped suddenly... we woke up with no air in the tent. I got out of the tent hoping that a walk on the beach would revive me a bit, but already by seven the situation was quite heavy, not a breath of wind and it's already hot. A few photos of the tracks, or rather the trails left by the various hermit crabs on the sand that all night, I gather, did nothing but go back and forth, up and down the various small sand dunes. We take down our mini camp and set off. We're heading to WADI SHAB and WADI TIWI. The road is good anyway, we don't always manage or want to stay on the beautiful brand-new highway and we treat ourselves to some small roads or off-road driving, but nothing special. We find the signs and reach the start of the wadi quickly.

The first one we reach is Wadi Shab: The spring that forms it allows the landscape to be totally transformed; from dry and arid to green and alive. When the water flows above ground it creates lakes with wonderful colors, every now and then it flows underground and you only see the result thanks to the green of the palm trees and other vegetation. After the first photos we go deeper in the hope of finding something special: a village or the crops... We walked for more than an hour on a not-too-difficult path to follow, and even though the Lonely Planet talks about half-hidden villages, we just couldn't find the entrance... We were satisfied only by the colors of the water and the rocks around us. They say that at the end you reach a cave with a waterfall where you can swim, but we gave up before that.

It's true that every now and then you walk in the shade of the rocks, but for those who aren't used to it, the whole thing is quite a challenge. It's already ten and the sun is beating down hard. We continue on to the other wadi, Wadi Tiwi. They're really close, we read that this wadi can also be driven through: outside it's too hot to walk, but we don't want to be too much of tourists either and impose our wishes at all costs on them, who are the hosts. We get as close as possible to the wadi and the village and start our walk on foot. It seems bigger and more beautiful to me... some kids are swimming... they ask us if we have a guide... no, we're do-it-yourself tourists, and then we ask them if we can continue visiting the wadi by car: no problem... We follow other cars that climb up the mountain, as if wanting to find the source of the wadi...

the road gets worse and since we don't know what we'll find at the end, we give up our mountain exploration. Instead we enter Tiwi, the town that bears the river's name. It's perched on top of a hill and seems very small to us, we don't find anything to photograph. Everyone is very kind, they all greet us, even the masons busy building a wall, even the kids in front of the mosque greet us. Passing in front of a house, we're greeted and invited in by a girl who offers us coffee and dates and tells us her dream: she just finished school as a secretary and would like to come to Italy, but her father doesn't have enough money... she could work in a bank in Dubai or Muscat but she's a girl and can't go too far from home. Anyway, all the women of the house, even if they stay slightly more hidden, are very kind and even offer us orange juice.

It's nice to see how they manage to reconcile their tradition with progress: they live near a wadi, but they have air conditioning, internet, etc... She shows us photos of the torrential rains that happened in June, photos taken with a cell phone and then downloaded to the computer via bluetooth... It's an incredible thing, a house perched on a mountain and the sixteen-year-old girl is more tech-savvy than me. We thank them very much and continue our journey in the direction of Sur. We arrive in Sur with the sun beating down on our heads, we wander around a bit to figure out how to orient ourselves in this city. We don't find many people around, it's at least forty degrees. We follow the Lonely Planet info and stop to eat at the Zaki Restaurant located between Roundabout 3 and Roundabout 4 next to the BP service station.

We go in and they seat us in the family room, women don't eat together with men unless with their husbands. We order Chinese food, in Italy I'd say chicken spring rolls and Cantonese rice with vegetables and chicken... Diego, more adventurous, has lamb stew... While we wait I take the opportunity for a bit of freshening up; the bad side of nomadic camping is that you don't have a bathroom as a point of reference... so what do you do when you want or need to (........) well, you get the idea, or more simply when you feel like freshening up? You live like a gypsy for a few days, making use of restaurant or service area bathrooms.

*** ADVICE Before choosing the camping option, think about how adaptable you are: would you be willing to dig a hole in the sand and deposit your organic waste like turtles deposit their eggs? We gave up on a nice swim in the sea because the salt would have stayed on us until the next day... and maybe we gave up on a fabulous snorkeling session. I think if I went back to Oman I'd still opt for a hotel, even the cheapest one.

Ok, after this aside let me get back to my story, we were at Zaki: if you happen to be in the area, go there: excellent food, very generous portions, so much so that we regretted ordering two dishes... anyway, six courses and three fresh fruit juices and we spent 9.3 rial for three (€16). It's extremely hot and once out of the restaurant we try to drive around to take some photos and decide to visit the fort called SUNAYSILAH CASTLE we pay 0.5 rial each for the visit... we go in and from the top we enjoy a beautiful view of the city from above, but the fort is completely rebuilt, of the ancient only one wall remains standing and everything loses its charm...

It's very hot and we quickly go back to the car... we change our plan slightly, and since tomorrow we'll be entering the desert and don't know what we'll find, it's better to treat ourselves to a night in a hotel for a shower and to gather info on how to see the turtles... The Lonely Planet tells us that in Sur there are only three hotels: only one at an affordable price, and we head straight to the SUR HOTEL where, according to the Lonely Planet, the turtle excursions are also organized. Hopefully, by taking both lodging and the excursion we can manage to bargain on the price... The guy at reception starts at 30 rial for a double and then comes down to 20... and he organizes the excursions to see the turtles for us at 25 rial for three, departing at 19:30, figuring two hours of driving round trip.

We're hesitant: we ask to see the rooms: They're a bit neglected and cleanliness doesn't exactly reign supreme; for 10 rial we would have accepted, but the offer isn't worthy of that price. We refuse! Earlier along the road I had seen a sign with directions to a hotel, we try to find it again and then follow it, and we find an aparthotel that appeals to us a lot, practically 100m from the Sur Hotel. It's the AL-JUMHOUR HOTEL APARTMENTS (968-25544414) The smell of detergent as soon as we go in immediately gives us a positive gut feeling, he asks for 20 rial but the rooms are two notches above, clean and tidy with basic comforts. We accept! They speak basic English like us, but we still ask about the turtles: they tell us we can do it on our own, paying only the entrance tax of 3 rial each.

And what's even better, he advises us not to take the one at night, which starts at nine and ends around one or two in the morning (it all depends on the turtles: the time to figure out that there are no dangers on the beach, choose the right spot to make the hole, dig, and then start laying the eggs....), but for him the four o'clock one is better, because then you can still see some turtles and also see the sunrise over the sea, and with more favorable light, there's also the hope of taking some photos. We accept, figuring we'll manage to sleep decidedly more, and that it's all on our route according to our plan, so instead of going and coming back, it's just one way. Ok, we skip dinner, nibbling on something from our supplies, and shut ourselves in the room. Meet-up with Alle at two thirty at the car.

Wake-up call at 02:10

This trip began under the banner of waking up early, for one reason or another, but this wake-up beats them all. All three of us are punctual and by two thirty we're already in the car ready to reach our destination. We mentally thank the guy at the hotel who patiently drew us the map to reach the turtle research center; in fact, we note that once we reach the RAS AL HADD and RAS AL JINZ junction there isn't any kind of sign that would even remotely suggest which road to take or where to turn...

*** ADVICE: Get good information and don't assume that it's a very famous destination in the country and therefore will be full of signs. On all the roads we traveled, the signs were truly scarce or barely sufficient... everything is under construction and most likely in a year everything will be much better... I believe Oman is a country in continuous change and evolution, made up of people who truly want to work for their country.

Back to us: it takes us about an hour to reach the center, we're not the only ones, there are about thirty of us. We pay 3 rial each and wait... At four o'clock on the dot we set off: the guide gives us all possible recommendations: silence, stay together, and watch where you put your feet. We walk for about twenty minutes and we're at the beginning of the beach: the two guides tell us to wait: they go around searching for turtles with a small flashlight. They call us and we see the first turtle busy covering the hole where she laid her eggs. She's really big, too bad about the poor light... everyone tries to take photos but flashes are rightly forbidden. The guides are quite strict and after two or three stray flashes they start confiscating cameras or cell phones.

They then divide us into small groups and have us move slowly toward another turtle, maybe she's a bit of a latecomer and we find her still busy laying her eggs. It's truly a wonderful emotion, it's a bit of a shame to disturb her, the guides have us all stand behind her and point the flashlight at her rear end, trying to bother her as little as possible. The whole thing lasts another twenty minutes or so... meanwhile the sun begins to rise and all the shadows start turning into more defined shapes. The beach rises surrounded by rocks that reach down to the sea, a splendid landscape, and for a moment the sunrise steals the scene from the turtles. The sun rises quickly and by around five thirty we can see perfectly...

everywhere there are covered holes and even though we can't walk freely on the beach, we look around; we see more sand rising in the distance: that means there are still other turtles around covering their eggs, another has finished and is quickly heading toward the sea. Magnificent, it feels like being inside a documentary. Lucky of all luck, we also manage to see 3 baby turtles coming out of their hole. This emotion alone is worth the trip!!!!!!!! How small they are:-) I later read that from the moment they hatch, exactly sixty days after the eggs were laid, it takes them from three to five days to come up to the surface. They weigh about fifteen grams and how much effort they make to get out of the hole dug by their mother.

Then we complicate everything: we walk back and forth to find the best position for the photo of a lifetime, leaving behind footprints and holes on the sand that for them are gigantic. Two, after much effort and a few tumbles, manage to reach the beach and then let themselves be carried by the sea; the third flips over and can't right itself... by now exhausted, the guide intervenes and picks it up, carrying it to the edge of the sea... it too disappears among the waves. It's a shame to know that out of a hundred eggs laid, at most one or two reach adulthood.

The turtle that, when we first arrived, was still laying eggs, now after about two hours of effort spent carefully covering the hole (to protect the eggs from various animals and because the eggs must have the right temperature), now exhausted and spent, heads toward the sea and in almost no time is refreshed and cleaned of all the sand by the first wave she meets, and immediately disappears from our sight.

*** ADVICE: I think the advice the hotel guy gave us was extremely valuable, so I too recommend the four o'clock visit rather than the nine o'clock one. You'll have the sunrise in your favor and everything will seem more beautiful. It's true that to have this incredible contact with nature you have to make a small sacrifice: but I believe you're amply repaid by the emotions you feel. Highly recommended.++++

Around six thirty we return to the center and continue our journey. Good thing we have our food supplies because finding a bar to have breakfast is rather complicated. We don't pass through the big cities and we make do, happy to experience the reality of the country where we're guests. Our destination is the island of Masirah and we decide to get there by staying on the coast, even though we'll have to cross part of the desert. Based on the little info we gathered, it was supposed to be a slightly complicated journey, where reserves of water and food were indispensable... Once again this time the Lonely Planet edition turns out to be outdated by the speed of Oman's transformation. At times we travel on the new highway that cuts through the desert and at other times we switch to the graded track alongside it.

It's a beautiful desert even if with not very tall dunes, everywhere there are workers, who in their blue overalls stand out against the yellow of the desert. They work with devotion even under the scorching midday sun, they take sand from a dune to carry it to the road to make the roadbed, others water the sand to make it more compact, etc... they're incredible... We have the car's air conditioning almost at maximum and they're in the middle of the desert with the sun beating down building a road. In about three hours we cover a distance we thought we'd have to do in many more hours; next year if not sooner everything will be even easier. We look for a place to eat, we're in MOUTH (honestly I didn't find any trace in the Lonely Planet of the existence of this town, so I hope I wrote the name correctly...

and we find more or less the usual things: rice with chicken or fish, noodles with chicken or fish... chicken breast in a pan or fish in a pan. We eat anyway and spend 7.4 rial for all three. It's around three in the afternoon and apart from the heat there isn't much to visit, we decide to treat ourselves to an afternoon at the sea, looking for a nice beach with a corresponding spot where we can pitch our tents. We arrive at the beach that has desert as its sand... we see in the distance wooden and straw huts built we believe by the various fishermen, even though at the moment the area is completely deserted... there's not a living soul. Great spot, we won't bother anyone and no one will bother us. One of those abandoned huts will provide us with the right shade on this scorching afternoon.

Once we reach the shore we make the ugliest of discoveries, images that even today sometimes flash through my eyes... First, the sea is nothing special, and second, the beach, which is kilometers long, is full of dead turtles. At the first and second we think they're old ones that have returned to their birthplace to die... but walking (just to try to understand or to cause ourselves further pain) we find ones of every size, small ones of thirty cm and really big ones over a meter... some are almost completely decomposed and others are almost intact... even the carapace decomposes... we also find lots of bones and skeletons indicating that this has been going on for a long time... we also find fish of various species and lengths in a state of decomposition...

we've arrived at the beach of death!!! What a contrast, we come from the beach of life; this morning we saw the birth of three turtles and this evening I see at least forty dead ones. It's horrible!!! We'd like to understand the cause but we don't know who to ask. While we're in the shade of the hut we've taken over, we see a car coming in our direction... they pass just beyond and then turn back... two men get out who very clearly have come to check who we are, and besides exchanging a few words they tell us the hut belongs to some guys... ok we're leaving tomorrow... they seem like peaceful people but I liked it much better knowing that no one knew of our existence... my night in the tent will be a continuous half-sleep, frightened by the thought of those men returning to do who knows what to us... But as you can well imagine, no one came back...

All afternoon and night a very strong wind blew, thank goodness the hut and the car provided a bit of protection.

Wake-up call at 6:30

We fold up our tents and head to the port where obviously the ferries depart... we have no idea what time they leave... with very basic English and lots of gestures we understand that the ferry already docked with six cars on board will only leave once it's full... we wait about two hours and then we set sail. The ferry costs 10 rial per car. We see for the first time the Bedouin women who go around with their faces covered by their typical pointed mask...(see photo). The crossing lasts a little over an hour and everyone stays seated in their own car. I call it a ferry but don't expect the Italian ferry, it's more like what we'd call an old boat used for transporting goods, or scrap metal, but it floats and gets us to shore so it's great. We've arrived at this island that is described by our two guides as paradise...

The Lonely Planet describes it with its interior dotted with palms and bordered by magnificent sandy beaches, the coast is patrolled by countless flamingos, herons and sandpipers. Masirah's shells have no equal when it comes to variety... Just these few lines make you want to reach this island, and if we then add that the guide continues by saying that the island is known internationally for its turtles, every year 30 million specimens reach the beach to lay their eggs. We have lunch at the port of Masirah paying 8.3 rial in total for the usual rice and the usual fish... We head straight to the beach in the northwestern part indicated by the guide... but excuse me, where have all the palms gone? The birds? And the magnificent sandy beaches? Everything around us is rock and desert... we ask a fisherman who literally speaks two words of English...

but we don't understand any particular destination... We're 100% disappointed, we drive around but we don't find anything of all that was described to us. Here too we find the abandoned huts and we take refuge in the shade of one of them... relax... we read and walk on the kilometer-long beaches... they're not bad but nothing special. I look for the extraordinary shells... there are very few and nothing very special. The sun is beating down but there's a breeze so we're fine, we'd even like to swim but then where would we wash? The thought of staying with salt on us until the next evening holds us back... there's the negative side of free camping again. Toward sunset we go back to town to take some photos...

everyone comes out of their houses at sunset and the town that at two in the afternoon seems deserted comes alive with men sitting in groups in front of their houses or in meeting places, women with their masks, and children full of even more energy letting off steam playing.... Before total darkness we look for a place to pitch the tents... and like true novices we choose one near the beach in the most open and free space possible. The wind will then make it impossible for us to sleep, so much so that at two in the morning Diego forces me to take down the tent, which without us inside would have flown away, and to sleep in the car. We've learned: next time look for at least a sheltered place, closed off on at least one side.

Request: if any of you have been to Masirah or will go to this island and find yourselves in agreement with the guides or have found the turtles, can you let us know? I'd like to kick myself for being so close to paradise and not finding the entrance door. Thanks to anyone who writes to me to give me another view of Masirah!!!!!!!!!!!

Wake-up call at 06:15

By six thirty we're already taking down camp and by seven thirty we're at the port. There are at least three ferries and one is almost full, we manage to board and after fifteen minutes we set off. We always pay the usual 10 rial.

At 9:15 we're on land. We retrace the desert road backward; on our return journey we stop for some photographs and at lunchtime we have a lot of trouble finding a decent restaurant, and our standards of decency aren't very high; along the road we do find an Indian restaurant where we can't communicate at all... they take us into the kitchen and lift the lids of four pots and we choose... I try to mime to ask if it's very spicy or not but without a positive result... let's hope for the best... Diego is very satisfied with his choice, I'm a bit less so... I'd also like to go to the bathroom since it's been almost a day since I've seen one; Diego acts as a guinea pig and goes before me, his verdict is: horrible bathroom, try another area! Luckily at the service station where we fill up with gas they have a passable bathroom and I take advantage of it.

Following the guide's advice, now somewhat discouraged, we head in the direction of AL-MINITRIB; it should be a small village located on the edge of the dunes, used as a starting point for the various desert excursions in the SHARQIYA SANDS. We stop about 10 km from AL MINITRIB, preferring to spend the night not in the desert but in a hotel room: we sleep and have dinner at the AL QUABIL REST HOUSE. It's low season and by negotiating we choose a double room with a bathtub for 25 rial per night. A liberating bath that never ends. We ask about organizing a camel ride in the desert at sunset or sunrise... we know this guest house is connected to a camp in the desert: the AL-ARESH DESERT CAMP ( tours@omantel.net.om ) We've hit a bad time, being low season everything is closed and they don't have much desire to find you something under the table either...

We try to do it ourselves, we head toward the desert, surely we'll find someone with camels who's willing to make a few bucks... The first one near the closed tented camp tells us an hour of camel riding is 20 rial per person, we mentally refuse to spend such a sum. Ok thanks for the information, we'll think about it... We meet lots of camel pens with people working there, let's go straight to the source, maybe the price is lower... We find a small group of guys with their boss too, they don't speak English and with the dictionary and a ton of gestures we reach an agreement: what we and they think we understood. Tomorrow we have to show up at six and we'll pay 4 rial for an hour. Too good! We have dinner at the hotel restaurant, all standard.

Wake-up call at 05:25

At six we're at yesterday's spot but we don't find anyone, only the camels, but there's not a living soul... we see another group a short distance away with people already at work and we start the same rigmarole as yesterday... they offer us a five-to-ten-minute ride in a circle like you do with children on a pony... and again with the dictionary and gestures we negotiate for the desert... we don't reach a fair price and we give up. Since the temperature is excellent, we decide to go a little way into the desert on our own to climb the dunes... they're beautiful, a fiery orange, and even thirty, fifty meters tall... I climb one dune and then another hoping to get a better view of the desert, but after climbing what seems to me the highest dune, I immediately see more dunes.... it's the never-ending story and I give up.... we took some nice souvenir photos and so we're satisfied.

Now breakfast awaits us. We set off in the direction of Muscat because tomorrow our week of car rental expires and so we have to return the car. We arrive in Muscat at lunchtime and go to the area called Ruwi. We choose an Indian restaurant where Alle and I eat the usual rice, while Diego, the experimenter of the tiny group, chooses what was supposed to be roast meat and instead arrived on his plate as a stew where onion was the star and you had to hunt for the meat in the tomato sauce. He couldn't eat it. We then visit the mosque in the area from the outside and then head toward the old city of Muscat and the Corniche. We visit the SULTAN PALACE (the sultan's palace), very beautiful even if you only see it from the outside because it's his actual residence.

Then we photograph the forts in the area, we wander around the city, also treating ourselves to shelter from the heat in a place called FASTFOOD 'N' JUICE CENTRE which serves us excellent fresh fruit juices. Before the sun sets we have to find a decent place where we can pitch our tent one last time. The guide tells us that if we want, even at the diving center where we want to book the dives they can let you pitch your tent. Ok, we think we'll kill two birds with one stone: book the dives and then the tent. At the diving center there's a guy who speaks Italian quite well, and when we ask him for advice on where to pitch the tent: anywhere but here! Ok, once again the Lonely Planet proves to be a dead weight in the backpack. He tells us to go to the free beach behind them at BANDAR JISSAH (the beach, according to the Lonely Planet, is also called Qantab beach).

It's the most beautiful beach we've seen since the beginning of our trip, it strikes us immediately: it's a beach surrounded by rocks where you can see the famous sea arch of the area. The local guys are ready with their little boats to take you for a few coins to other beaches or to go snorkeling in places further out, or early in the morning to see dolphins. Being surrounded by rocks it's a great place to pitch tents. While we wait for most people to go back home we also have our first encounters with other Italians vacationing in Oman. They're a couple, Jacopo and Elena, with whom we'll then share first of all the same hotel and consequently an afternoon on a boat, or we'll cadge a ride in their car, have lunch and dinner together when our and their plans cross.

Hi hi guys, all good? Diego and Alle also go for a swim and then rinse off the salt with the reserve water tank which from tomorrow won't be needed anymore. We set up camp and by flashlight we eat all the leftovers of our food supply: tuna and chickpeas and chips for the last time. It's really nice, even the climate is ideal.

Wake-up call at 05:40

We wake up just in time to see the sun rise... we take our backpacks to the Delmon hotel and by eight we're ready to visit the fish market. It's full of people selling and buying... people whose only job is to clean the fish you just bought... we don't want to be cheeky and photograph just anyone, we want to respect their work, but every time we ask if we can take a photo we're always granted permission. The Mutrah souq starts coming to life from ten in the morning onward... Before returning the car we decide to visit the GRAND MOSQUE. They're very strict about dress and in the end I (a woman) am the only one who gets the go-ahead: the two chaps forgot that you can't go in wearing shorts... I, in long sleeves and long pants with a scarf on my head, go in (honestly I didn't have a huge scarf and since I have shoulder-length hair, some strands were peeking out here and there...

the guard called a woman to fix my veil the same way they wear it... Ok, we respect their faith. The mosque inside is very beautiful, especially for the chandeliers, and also famous for the largest carpet in the world, but in some areas it's covered by a blue cloth to allow us tourists to walk on it (even barefoot), the blue cloth really takes away from the carpet.

Then we return the car at the airport and take advantage of the hour to eat at the various little restaurants: I have a margherita pizza, I'd say good! Now we're on foot and we take a taxi to the Delmon hotel, we pay from the official rate 8 rial for three.

We run into Jacopo and Elena at the hotel entrance, and we decide at four to go to the beach to take a ride with the local guys. For 10 rial they take us to a nearby deserted and very beautiful beach, white sand and nicely colored water... but the underwater visibility is very poor and we don't see many fish. Together we go to the center in the evening and look for the most local restaurant, avoiding the mass-market ones; we stop at a small place run by Egyptians and eat grilled fish and vegetables, we pay 6 rial each.

I'm collapsing from sleep, tomorrow we have the bus leaving at 6:15 for DUBAI

Wake-up call at 06:00

THE bus for Muscat leaves perfectly on time and in a little over an hour we arrive at the Emirati customs, we get off and get the exit stamp on our passport. Shortly after, Emirati soldiers have us get off with all our luggage for the check with the drug dog. Everything smooth for everyone, we can continue. After fifteen minutes we arrive at the Omani border and discover that we have to redo the entry visa to enter Oman and pay another six rial each. What a hassle... The journey continues very well and at the scheduled time we arrive in the city. The whole thing lasted less than six hours. Today is Friday and therefore it's a holiday for Muslim countries, plus tomorrow Ramadan begins, so today almost everything is closed and it's a double holiday for all Omani Muslims. By taxi we arrive at the hotel, where we had left the heavy backpacks before leaving for Dubai.

All perfect, they give us the same apartment with two rooms and a kitchen area plus a nice big living room with satellite TV, for the cost of two small rooms we managed to be really comfortable and well

Wake-up at 07:10

Today Ramadan began: we wonder how much this will affect our habits. While respecting freedom of religion and thought, we immediately understand that it will limit us enormously...I will explain why as we go along. Of course, next year perhaps when planning our holidays we will also take into account whether to go to a Muslim country or not...because Ramadan will still be in August. First of all, you can no longer have breakfast at the restaurant but only in the room, so you have to call ahead and ask for breakfast: but now we can no longer choose what to eat: they decide everything and so we find ourselves facing beans and a mixed sauce, a plate made of watermelon, orange and tomato and cucumber...they only bring us coffee: and I, who am used to drinking tea. We don't get too worked up about it, we leave at eight for our dives.

We chose a dive center used by Nosy tours and located a ten-minute drive from our hotel: OMAN DIVE CENTER. ( info@omandivecenter.com ) They are very honest and immediately warn Ale that there is no good visibility for snorkeling, saving him from wasting 15 rials; we decide to dive anyway: the sea is always ready to offer surprises. They use a boat I would call a yacht, very beautiful, large, with the possibility of a shower and two bathrooms. On the upper level two little tables and their little sofas allow you to keep the bags dry and away from the diving equipment. Most important thing: the bigger it is, the less you feel seasick. There are eight of us divers plus the two guides, they divide us into two groups... We do the first dive: beautiful but with a lot of suspension and visibility of at most five meters. The water is not as warm as we would have imagined, it's around 24 degrees.

Break in a quiet bay of about an hour where, despite Ramadan, they give us apples and cookies. Second dive with slightly less visibility, both are beautiful, we see lots of fish and a few turtles....---------------------------- At two o'clock we return to the dive center and after washing all the equipment we are out of the resort. Problem: where to eat: all the normal restaurants are closed. Previously we had seen an advertisement for a Pizza Hut branch that delivers pizza to your home: we look for the number and by a series of coincidences we see that it is on the same street as our hotel: what luck... double luck, they're open: we get three large pizzas (what gluttons) and something to drink and off to the room. We manage to eat about half (in the end we'll skip dinner because we're full and tired and we'll also make it our meal for the following midday).

We got our money's worth since pizza is one of the most expensive courses. A nap is a must after diving. At seven we are ready to go out again: we head toward what turns out to be the largest shopping center in Muscat, the Carrefuor. Of course, after those in Dubai this really looks like a miniature. The kids still try to compare prices of technology items: televisions, DVD players, phones and camera lenses: no bargains, they either cost the same as at home or maybe a little more. There are loads of clothing stores and stores for traditional clothes, e.g. an entire store of just black cover-ups and the only difference being the embroidery on the sleeves or on the veil...It's quite striking to see a single color in the whole store, and black at that. I didn't manage to ask and consequently to understand why the women all dress in black and the men all in white...it's a kind of dilemma.

We're not hungry and so we return to the hotel relatively early to sleep.

Wake-up at 07:30

Today is a day with no commitments: Alessandro has a plane this evening... we had tons of ideas about what to do: an excursion to the Daimaynt islands... visiting the city of Nizwa, etc... but with a plane to catch we decide to stay in the area to avoid any unforeseen events. We wake up early to take the fishermen's little boat and go see the dolphins... We arrive at Quantb beach and there is literally no one there... everyone has disappeared! I remembered reading in the Lonely about a beach in the area where by snorkeling you can see seahorses (my dream!!!) but I can't remember the name anymore and we don't have the guidebook with us...

We have a flash of genius: we ask the diving center since it's on the next beach: Ermes, a guy who speaks Italian (originally from Salerno but born in Switzerland...), explains that right now because of Ramadan there are no more boats because it's forbidden to wear swimsuits on the beach or drink something in public. There's another thing that weighs heavily about Ramadan: there's no more free beach and it's forbidden to eat or drink in public. The only sensible thing is to pay 1.5 rial each and stay inside the resort, being able to use their facilities. We accept. It's about ten o'clock and I try to lie on the sunbed to rest or read a bit, it's very hot and I can't last long, in the water it's a whole other thing: you manage to refresh yourself a little. There are lots of little fish and I even manage to see a medium-sized ray hiding in the sand.

We spend the day at the sea, secretly eating the pieces of pizza left over from yesterday, and in the afternoon we dedicate ourselves to proper snorkeling. It's low tide and the pier where this morning there was at least three meters of water is now resting on the sand. And the two platax (beautiful fish) that were underneath, where did they go? We walk a bit and then swim for about an hour among coral that is starting to come back to life and every now and then we see some beautiful fish... and we even manage to see a small turtle resting among the coral. We see a cuttlefish and in any case in this stretch of sea there is a lot of life even though most of the fish don't have colors that immediately stand out to the eye like in other seas.

At six we're at the hotel, ready to leave the apartment to move into a single room with a double bed, and Alessandro ready for his final destination: the airport. We have dinner at the airport keeping each other company one last time... see you in Italy.

Wake-up at 07:20 They bring breakfast to our room and before going out we do as they usually do: put all the leftovers outside the door, on a table in a sort of public lounge. We have two dives planned: on Sunday I requested to be able to see the seahorse: soon I'll find out if I've been accommodated. Today we are ten divers with only one guide, he speaks exclusively Americanized English and German. Some kind soul will translate for me! We don't use the big boat but the fast one: much smaller and uncomfortable because during Ramadan they only work five hours and therefore we have to make do as best we can. We keep loving Ramadan more and more. Today the sea is calm and warm, it's about 30-32 degrees: how nice. The thermocline is very high, already at twelve or thirteen meters you feel the freezing water. Visibility is good and I even manage to see the second seahorse of my life.

(The first I saw snorkeling about ten years ago in Corfu, Greece.) It's in its classic position, anchored by its tail to a rope, and near it a lionfish. We get a beautiful photo too, also because we are among the first to see it; afterward someone always comes along who unintentionally stirs up a ton of sand, making any photo impossible. But we realize our camera has problems: a sort of fogging has formed in front of the lens and so goodbye... damn it!!! We take our break in another bay with a white beach and beautiful transparent water, and then we're ready for the second dive: aimed at searching for sharks. The seabeds are wonderful, full of every kind of coral, from hard to soft. We see clownfish defending their home, lots of lionfish and leopard morays of every size. In some dens you can even see two: one head facing right and the other left to defend the territory.

We see some tiny nudibranchs and even tinier shrimp. And at the end, when we're already at our safety stop, we see two lemon sharks about two meters long swimming among a school of fish. Beautiful dives. Again around two we're back on land and after the usual gear rinsing we go to the hotel. We find the food still exactly where I had left it: okay, during Ramadan they don't do the rooms, but at least picking up the leftovers before they start to stink seems like the minimum. Their problem anyway, it's outside our room. We eat some of what I had kept in the fridge from the morning breakfast: fresh fruit and some bread with two little cheeses. Shower and rest. We get up when the sun has already set, to the joy of all Muslims. We go out headed for a shopping center described in the Lonely as excellent for buying typical handicrafts and souvenirs: the SABCO CENTRE in Qurm.

We struggle to find it and when we had almost given up, there it is in front of us. It's not very big and you find good quality stuff, arranged better than in the souq; as for prices, it depends on what you want to buy. In less than an hour you can go all the way around it. In our searching we saw a restaurant mentioned in the Lonely: the Automatic Restaurant with typical and Lebanese cuisine. We accept the challenge. We try some typical appetizers: a sauce made of beans and yogurt and another that was supposed to contain eggplant, but we don't recognize the taste. Then I have a soup with cream of chicken and some boneless grilled chicken, while Diego has a mix of grilled meat. They also make juices with fresh fruit. Everything good and we spend 9 rial for two. Cooked, we go straight back and by ten thirty we're sleeping like logs.

Wake-up at 6:00 We make do for breakfast with a few cookies and some fruit juice. The leftovers from the previous day's breakfast are still on the table. In the face of working little because of Ramadan: I can understand normal people, but whoever runs a hotel should find some sort of compromise. I'm not saying to deny the faith, but hire Chinese or Indian staff who, professing other beliefs, can work a tiny bit more. Meanwhile we make the bed ourselves, economize on towels (they have to last three days) and I get the toilet paper myself from the little boxes you find around. But everyone wants money, or does Ramadan prevent them from taking it? Jokes aside, we have the appointment at the diving center for six forty-five: destination Dayniamat. We are and everyone is punctual, we leave at seven with the fast boat.

It takes us about an hour and twenty to reach the first dive site: the aquarium. We are in open sea, we dive into the blue even though we can always see the bottom at a maximum depth of twenty-six meters. Last week they saw the whale shark but today the sea is fairly rough and so we all struggle a bit getting dressed, especially those like me who suffer from seasickness. It's nice to know that below it's all calmer. We dive in and the site fully lives up to its name: you find yourself literally surrounded by thousands of fish, of every type and variety, not to mention the sizes. We see eagle rays swimming elegantly and then barracudas, a huge fish in the distance, and the phrase "thousands of fish" is enough to describe it all.

Of course we all hope for the big encounter: for me and Diego it would be the third encounter with the whale shark, but as our dive master told us: WHERE WE GO AND WHERE WE WOULD LIKE TO GO ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. Today the rough sea penalized us. Even getting back on the boat was a bit difficult and a few times I was submerged by waves while I waited in the water for the others to suffer less from the seasickness I feel on the boat. We then take our break in a bay near the island, which appears barren with arid rocks but with small sandy beaches that, in contrast with the green of the water, seem blindingly white. Two people who at first glance look like bandits approach us to check if the diving center has the permit to dive. Unbelievable, even in the middle of nowhere they come to check on us.

For the second dive we jump into the open sea and then swim toward the bay and resurface where the sea is calm. The sea keeps churning, you have to be quick to plunge in and go down quickly below four or five meters to find peace; at the surface someone runs a tiny risk of being thrown by the waves toward the rocks... but everything goes fine and below we have another beautiful dive. Very calm, the guide counts us three or four times to make sure he hasn't lost anyone. Right away in a cave we find an enormous lobster, and later we'll see others too but only partially because the rest of the body is in a hole or cave. We see lots of turtles here and there, one of them really big... we see rays of every size motionless hidden in the sand, and then swimming with their calm at our arrival in search of a quieter place. One ray must have been two meters.

Plus we see in both dives every kind of coral from hard to soft, with various colors and shapes. Only regret is the camera that kept giving us these fogging problems and we couldn't capture it all decently. But our eyes will remember it!!! The return to the diving center proves truly hard, it takes us almost three hours to get back, we are completely washed by the waves over and over again... we take some serious hits to the back from the boat's jumps, but everything happens with a lot of resignation on all our part and a slow counting of the passing minutes in the hope of seeing a glimpse of coastline as quickly as possible.

*** ADVICE: if you are independent travelers, instead of staying in Muscat for the night and then taking more than an hour to reach the islands, our advice is to get as close as possible to the islands by land and then dive from there. We saw on an English guidebook that in front of the islands there is a resort with a diving center... of course you suffer less to get there... and surely you spend less too. If we ever return to Oman we will definitely do it that way.

We skip lunch and go straight to the hotel for a refreshing shower and bed to recover lost energy. Our breakfast from the day before is still on the table and since it's starting to have a certain smell, I decide to dare and move it outside our space, onto the landing between the stairs and the elevator. I hope some kind soul with a minimal desire to work takes it away. We are woken by the muezzin calling everyone to prayer, the sun has already set and everyone can come out into the open. Life begins and everyone is happy. We head again toward the souq after seeing the AL BUSTAN area where there is what the Lonely calls the most luxurious hotel in the Middle East. Maybe, but we limit ourselves to looking at it from afar, we are not attracted by free concrete...

of course at Al Bustan it's certainly not free, but it's still a concrete construction that ruins the surrounding landscape, at least for us. We find the souq practically empty; last Friday, which was their Sunday, therefore a day of rest, you couldn't walk or breathe with so many people. Today we are almost the only tourists. Everyone is very kind, they invite us to come in and when we politely refuse they don't insist a second time. We know what we want and so we are very direct: Alessandro tasked me with buying him six turtles, the least tacky ones (impossible task), they're all colorful with fake little glitter on their shells and the back opens to hold pills. I'd like to see who, instead of a little box, goes around with a turtle as a pill holder... but since I bought the pill-holder camels in Dubai I'm not really in a position to talk.

The smallest ones they sell for two rial; we bargain since we're buying eight, they make their final offer at 12 rial for all of them, we disappear at ten and then we leave. They let us go... this happens twice... since the purchase isn't for me, we prefer to confirm with Ale via text. Anyway, for once the Lonely is right: in the souq bargaining is a must but you'll never manage to get big discounts. We bargain in another bazaar for some silver pendants, to give something different as a gift. We struggle a bit to find a fair price for us and for them. It's the rial's fault, which is certainly not favorable... everything doubles. We have dinner again at the juice fast food to the left of the souq. To bed, dead tired and sad because it's our last night in Oman.

Irony of fate, today, which is truly the day free of commitments, the day of do whatever you want and sleep as much as you like... today we both hear the muezzin's wake-up call at about five thirty... Diego then goes back to sleep and dozes on and off until about nine, I can't fall asleep again... I'd get up but then do what? I don't want to disturb Diego on the only morning he can sleep... at six I start reading, at seven I get the computer and start writing the diary... At nine we call for breakfast: we ask for a cup of tea and one of coffee, scrambled eggs and little sausages... we get the usual somewhat scatterbrained waitress whom I've never told you about and whom I'll spare you but whom we will remember...

she brings me my tea with powdered milk and the same for Diego's coffee; when I ask for just tea without milk, she starts talking a mile a minute and then says goodbye and leaves... Even though I don't speak English, I understood that I won't be seeing my plain tea. Oh well. We pack our backpacks, trying to arrange everything in some sort of scattered logic. We know it's very hot outside and we're in no hurry to leave... We only have two destinations: go back to the souq to buy the turtles for Alessandro and go back to the diving center to buy the diving center t-shirts as souvenirs and gifts... and take the opportunity to have lunch at the indoor restaurant.

Once again the souq is empty and very peaceful, we go straight to the little shop from the night before, the guy tries to ask me for 15 rial, I give him a sideways look and he gives me the same price as the night before: all right, 12 rial for eight turtles, we don't even try to bargain... Outside there's not much sun but there's still a mugginess and humidity that make you lose all desire. We head straight to the diving center: how nice the air conditioning is. You can easily eat at the restaurant and you don't even have to pay the permit if you eat there or if you dive. It's not super cheap but the portions are generous... Diego got the grilled prawns: really big and excellent. A good lunch to close out our trip beautifully. We spend the afternoon in the room doing whatever we like, at least we're in the cool...

at eight the guy from the car rental comes to pick us up and takes us to the airport. Flight at 23:40 via Dubai with a stopover in Zurich. Expected arrival in Milan at 08:40.