Musandam (Oman) - A perfect get-away

We went to Musandam, in Oman, recently for a quick get-away from Dubai before the onset of summer. Musandam, otherwise known as Roo'uoss Al Jibal in Arabic is a peninsula separated from the rest of Oman by the United Arab Emirates. It is where the Arabian Gulf meets the Indian Ocean, whose waters are called the Gulf of Oman. This is the Straits of Hormuz, separating the Gulf from Iran.

The quickest way to Musandam from Dubai is by road. We first drove from Dubai to Ras Al Khaimah. The roads are good and sign posted and you get there in just over an hour. We were looking for the Al Dara exit point in Ras Al Khaimah. One needs to be alert as one gets closer to Al Dara because the sign posts disappear suddenly, but there are enough people around to guide you. The road leading to the border suddenly narrows down so one needs to drive carefully.

The process of entering Oman takes about 40 minutes including the formalities needed to be completed while you exit the UAE. The entry fee to Oman is 6 Riyals per person and for some reason only credit cards are accepted at the border. Once in Oman one needs to follow the signs to Khasab. Meaning fertility, Khasab is a peaceful town lying in a small harbor at the base of Wadi Khasab in Musandam.

The landscape changes almost as soon as you enter Oman. The roads are winding but well marked and a pleasure to drive on. The road to Khasab is lined by mountains on one side and the sea on the other.

Since ours was a day trip we did not have to hunt for a hotel to stay in. We came across the Golden Tulip Hotel where we stopped for a bit waiting for the lunch buffet to start at 12 noon.

The highlight of a trip to Musandam is the dhow cruise along the Fjords of Musandam which takes you into the Straits of Hormuz through the 16km fjord (Khor) The cruise is almost 4 hours long and there are a number of dhows along the Khasab harbour waiting for tourists.

One needs to bargain a bit and we managed to book our seats for 80 dirhams per person as against the 100 dirhams we were asked for initially.

Once the cruise began the sights and sounds that followed put us in a state of speechless marvel.

No words can describe the beauty of the spectacular mountains standing out in the middle of the sea with not a patch of green on them.

These naturally carved limestone mountains come in all shapes and sizes.

About an hour and a half into the cruise we came to the part of the Strait that is home to many dolphins. Very shy initially the dolphins later got into their playful best and swam along side our dhow. They are fast swimmers, it was difficult to catch them on camera. They swam next to our dhow for almost 25 minutes and we were told that we were lucky to see the dolphins at a time when they were active and awake. At one point we had a school of almost ten dolphins close to our dhow.

The cruise then took us to Telegram island where we could swim in the sea with the colourful fish.

I was wondering if there is a story behind the name of the island but no one seemed to know anything. The water was cold and swimming in it with a float was not as easy as one would imagine. As the dhow took us back to the harbour one witnessed the shadows on the mountains and the different hues of the landscape.

A few days after our visit to Musandam my parents visited me in Dubai. It is a pity I could not take them to Musandam because the UAE does not issue multiple entry visas. Hence one needs to fly directly to Muscat and then go to Musandam to see this scenic peninsula. There are plenty of opportunities to go snorkelling and deep sea diving here, so a trip to Musandam would warrant a two day stay for the more adventurous traveller.