We drove through the Wihibah Sands (also variously Wahiba Sands / Sharqiyyah Sands) desert and reached the coast in time to join
in the festivities at a friend’s wedding.
With the discharge of rifles (and yes – with live bullets!) and rhythmic drumming, it was a traditional occasion and made our 150km dash to reach it worthwhile.
Having enjoyed the festivities we moved onto the island of Masirah though before we arrived we came across fishermen tossing their nets so that the fish they had caught fell onto the sand in a shower of falling Sardine. After taking the fantastically slow ferry onto Masirah, it was a short drive to our hotel.
An excellent sleep meant that we were fresh for the next day. We encircled the island – enjoying bird watching and the stark views of the mountainous interior. The next day we took a choppy fishing boat ride to a small subsidiary island near where the fishing fleet anchors on their return from a few days out at sea. On both our 2 days on Masirah we bought fish, probably Bonito, and the chef at the hotel kindly made us a fantastic dinner; while on both evenings the fish was excellent the first was extraordinarily good.
There is an Omani saying “Those who live beside the sea have no worries about food” and though the work is hard the fishermen of Masirah seem to have a great supply on their doorsteps.
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