Holiday in Oman

 by Thomas Burke (Chairman Clydebank Branch SSAC)

 photos by members of the Party

Musandam Peninsula-Khasab Town

The last couple of years I’ve been to the Red Sea around November with a group of divers from the east coast operating out of Scoutscroft Dive Centre and organised by Amanda Thom, the Centre Manager. Normally we do a “liveaboard”, but this time we wanted to try something different, so Amanda duly arranged the trip to Khasab, in the Musandam Peninusula which is part of Oman, but totally unconnected geographically. We were booked in to the Extra Divers Lodge which looked like a giant gateau but was excellent accommodation:- 2 people to a large air-conditioned room with en suite facilities and breakfast (mainly eggs) included.

So the group assembled on the morning of Saturday 8^th November 2008 at Glasgow airport for the 8 hours flight with Emirates to Dubai. From there we had a 3 hours minibus journey north to Musandam/Khasab. We left Glasgow at 2pm and arrived at our accommodation at about 3.30am local time. The flight was excellent, as you would expect from Emirates. The bus journey was ok apart from the Border crossing which took about 40minutes.

As alcohol is difficult to obtain in Oman(very Fundamentalist), some of us purchased our own tipples at Dubai airport.

The next day the group surfaced at various times; it being a “rest” day. There were 9 divers in the group plus one non diver-one less than originally planned, as “Fishy Al” miscalculated his holidays. Some explored Khasab, some lazed around all day but we all went out for a meal in town later in the evening. We opted for a “kitty” of 10 Rials ((£18) each, which actually lasted for 4 nights, water and fruit juice being the main liquid choices. Food was a mixture of Kebabs, Indian and Mongolian cuisine.

Next morning we were picked up at 9.00 and headed to the Extra Divers Centre based in the Golden Tulip Hotel about 2 miles outside Khasab. After sorting out our gear we were taken back to the harbour at Khasab and loaded our gear on to the boat, which was just big enough for 10 divers. We set sail and the Dive Guide explained there was a problem with visibility due to a Red Plankton/Algae bloom and we may have to go to Plan “B” or even “C” or “D”. This was to be the theme for the week. We headed north, checking a couple of sites, then on one of the further islands the Guide checked the vis and gave it the thumbs up! The terrain in Musandam reminded me of some of the stacks on St. Kilda, rocks rising straight out of the sea. We dropped in for our “check” dive and, as the Guide had said, we found the water every bit as saline as the Red Sea. The site was called Purple Haze due the abundance of purple coral. We dropped down on to a shelf about 8 metres then followed a slope down to 18metres max where the rocks petered out to a sandy bottom. Again the terrain reminded me of St. Kilda. The vis at first was reasonable and there was quite a lot of coral, but neither up to Red Sea standard. However, the water was warm, 29 degrees, and there was plenty of life. A very enjoyable dive until the plankton moved in and the vis dropped. After lunch of fruit, biscuits and water on a small beach, we went back to the same island, on the south side this time and did a similar dive, slightly deeper and a slow drift. Again, very pleasant.

The 2^nd day was much the same with dives at Falcon Rock and Coral Garden after some searching, because of the plankton which was now turning brown. It was decided to stay at the Golden Tulip hotel for dinner and a beer as it was the only place in Khasab that sold alcohol, but at £5 (8 Rials) for a 330mils can of Amstel we stayed quite sober.

Day 3 diving was the low point with every site cloudy and the weather windy and seas rough. The Dive Guide, a Swiss guy called Tom Wyssenbach, said he was at a loss as to what to do as he had never seen this before. You could actually see the cloudy water areas in the wake of the boat. It was decided to head up one of the fjords to Telegraph Island or “round the bend”. This is reputedly where the expression originated in the 19th century. This island was a booster station for telegraphs from the Far East. There was a presence by the British Army who did 6 month tours of duty for maintenance and security. Usually by the time the men were relieved they were “round the bend”.

We were to dive a pinnacle just off the island itself which came to within 6metres of the surface and dropped off to about 20metres. We dropped in and with visibility at zero metres, missed the top of the pinnacle but found it at 19metres. This was our night dive even though it was high noon. After lunch on the island exploring, we headed up the fjord hoping to visit a small village at the end. The scenery was amazing with mountains rising vertically out of the sea. Unfortunately when we arrived permission to land was refused by the village Elders. With no other options we headed back for the open sea. As we approached the fjord entrance there was a pungent smell. This we found out later was due to the plankton dying off. It was decided to cut the diving short because of this and the Dive Centre organised a Barbeque back at the villa that night. It was a great night with local delicacies, pork ribs! And contraband beer all enjoyed behind the walls of the villa.

The next day the smell of plankton was diminishing although there were still stormy seas. We headed north to the islands at the top of Musandam Peninsula which took 3 hours and dived Eagle Bay where we saw Sea Eagles and dived the Coral Garden site again. During the surface interval we visited the remote village of Kumsar on the mainland, at the base of a mountain. It is accessible only from the sea. It was an amazing place and we felt as though we had travelled 2000 years back in time as we wandered through the village, with fish being baked in communal street ovens and goats everywhere.

The last days diving was the best with conditions almost back to normal. We headed to Rashid Island, which was as close to Iranian waters as you can go, almost in the Straits of Hormuz. The first dive was at Rashid Drift where there was a slight drift. As most of the dives had been about 20-25metres max my buddy and I decided to go a bit deeper. At about 38metres we hit sand and decided to head back up. After finning for about 2 minutes we realised that we hadn’t moved and our bubbles were going to the side and down. There was a really strong down current which took lots of effort and air to overcome until it subsided at around 20metres and we found ourselves on a cliff with a series of ledges with all sorts of corals and fish. The 2^nd dive was again on Rashid Island (Jackfish Corner), which was a strong drift at speed over huge boulders and rock slopes covered in all sorts of fish life and corals-the best dive of the holiday.

We managed a 3^rd dive on a small island near Rashid, a site discovered earlier this year called Beecham Bay.  It was shallow, 12metres deep, with all sorts of corals and life. I saw 3 turtles up close. A great last dive.

I would describe this as more of a holiday with diving rather than a Dive Holiday. Some of the group thought that there was too much messing about at the start and end of the day. I think we were very unlucky with the plankton bloom we encountered. The Red Sea it ain’t, but I think diving in some ways more interesting and possibly life more abundant apart from corals, for which the Red Sea could be the best in the world. All in all a very enjoyable and interesting week. Although conditions were difficult at times, Tom and his team at Extra Divers did all they could to make our stay enjoyable. I would definitely go back.

DIVES

10/11/08  Deep Purple

10/11/08 Hidden beach

11/11/08 Coral Garden

11/11/08 Falcon Rock

12/11/08 Telegraph island

13/11/08 Eagle bay

13/11/08 Coral garden

14/11/08 Rashid Island, Drift

14/11/08 Rashid Island, Jackfish Corner

14/11/08 Beecham Bay

FISH

Turtles, Stonefish, Marbled Torpedo Ray, Batfish, Trevally, Leopard Moray, Geometric Moray, Postulous Warty Slug, Flat Worms,  Arabian Box Fish, Giant Puffer fish, Ragged Finned Firefish

EATING

Bill for 10 averaged 30 Rials =  £50

Golden Tulip for 8 was 78 Rials = £130

Beer 3 Rials = £5

2ltr water 0.280 = 40p

GETTING THERE

Emirates Airways

20kg hold luggage

7kg hand luggage

Exit Visa from UAE was 20 Dirhams

Entry Visa to Oman was 6 Omani Rials (Credit card only)

VILLA

6 Bedrooms officially, an elusive 7^th bedroom which people disappeared into

All en suite (apart from me n lizas room)

Kitchen and communal dining room

Webmaster's Note: Oman is situated  25⁰ North 56⁰ East

More information in Wikipedia