Man Oh Man Oman

As usual, day one on a cruise ship means a life boat drill. 

It's often more of an ice-breaker as we stand around and chat with our life boat partners. 

While we wave bye-bye Dubai, it's time for cocktails on the fantail. The haze is not smog but sand in the atmosphere from the surrounding deserts.

First stop is Khasab, a city in an exclave of Oman bordering the United Arab Emirates. It is the local capital of the Musandam peninsula and is dubbed the "Norway of Arabia". 

The Sultanate of Oman is the second largest country on the Arabian Peninsula, lying along its southeast corner. It has a total land area of 300,000 square kilometres and a population of over two million.

The Musandam, separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates, is the northernmost part of the Sultanate.

Due to its geographical position and mountainous terrain it was isolated from the rest of Oman and the region developed at its own pace. Graded roads cut across the mountains have now made it more accessible. The grandeur of Musandam can best be explored by sea.

A popular activity in Khasab is a Dhow boat tour. A Dhow is a unique Arab boat as seen here.  

The Dhow tours go into the Omanian fiords ( looks nothing like Norway or New Zealand), but they are deep inlets of turquoise water surrounded by white limestone cliffs.  And, you get to see a lot of dolphins.  The best part was the hour we had to swim in the almost 100% buoyant salt water.  It was near 100 degrees, but the breeze from the moving Dhow and the cool water made it all more tolerable.  

The Dhow is covered with carpets and pillows and all the guests sit on the floor.

Deep into the fiords, we came upon a school of dolphins. They like riding the bow wave of the boat.

It was very hazy in the fiord. Sand storms in the near-by desert creates a smog-like cover over the area. 

We had groups from all over on our trip. France, England, USA and these folks from the Middle East.

Lynne's favorite part of the tour was the swimming break. And for good reason, it was frigging HOT out there.

The Star Pride, our ship, fully air conditioned, waiting for us.

Here's Ahab the Arab ( aka Bill el Sha Willi Baba) in the spice souk in Dubai- dressing Bill up was a way of drawing us into their stall- and it worked!!

As we left Khasab, we sailed thought the Straits of Hormuz looking east to Iran and hoping to see a USN aircraft carrier. 

Instead we watched a school of dolphin fishing, that was pretty cool too.

The next 2 days will be at sea full of lectures about the middle east and other typical ship games and activities.