We are enjoying our short visit here in Oman. We are departing for Aden Yemen in 2 days. We have joined a convoy that will transverse the infamous "Pirate Alley". Between provisioning, fueling, and repairs we have done a few side trips. Yesterday we headed to "Jobs Tomb" up in the hills about an hours drive. We also stopped by the tomb of Mary's father, Jesus's grandfather. It was 41 ft long & covered in granite & housed in a building next to the Mosque in downtown Salalah. Amazing really. This area is just steeped in history. The Al Balid Archaeological Park & Museum had a fabulous Maritime exhibit that was extraordinarily fascinating.
Today we drove west along the coast to some very remote areas. One of our stops was to see the Bufadora's. There were quite a few blow holes but since the swell was down, the spray didn't come blowing us off of the grates. The sound was impressive though!! The drive passed through some beautiful (Grand Canyon like) areas. There were camels everywhere. Sometimes we had to stop because they were standing in the middle of the road. The beaches were totally isolated and very beautiful. It was warm and we found a small overhanging rock cave like area on the beach. It was cool inside on the shady sand. We watched 2 turtles in the surf just in front of us.We soon fell asleep listening to the surf just feet away.

We arrived at the Salalah Port at 00:30 last night. The hook went down ....and so did we..... ZZZZZZZZZ... After 4 hours sleep we awoke to sunshine and a nice cool breeze. We weren't prepared for the size of this port. It's a large modern container complex and is pulsing with activity 24 hours a day. Several times I woke in the night thinking that we were still motoring.....The place hums with energy. We found several of our old friends anchored here and they came by to greet us and give us the "low down". First thing this morning we had to move Freebird to a better spot along a wall. We re anchored and backed down toward the rock wall, then, our friend took our stern line to the rocks in his dinghy. We are now secure in a line of boats that have done the same thing. Next, it was off to the dock with our fuel cans, trash and to clear in. Finally, 2 hrs late....we were met by Mohammed in his long white robe thing. He's the "do every thing guy". (there's one in every port, thank God!) This is the first time our feet have touched the ground in 11 days. We weren't sure if we could still walk??? Mohammed took us to customs, immigration and the port authority. He filled out our paper work in Arabic and seemed to know all the people in the various offices. He picked up our fuel cans and will deliver them back full (we have 3 trips). He arranged for a rental car later today and hopefully a sim card so we can get on line and post some photos with these blogs. Tonight we are heading to the local "club" up the hill for a well deserved STEAK DINNER and BEER! We'll let you know, K?


ps, here is the link to Wikipedia's Salalah, click here: