The Magic’s in Musandam

And the dolphins didn’t hurt.

Last year some friends took a dhow cruise in a secret little part of Oman. Ok, it’s not a secret… but it is a tiny piece that’s not connected to the rest of the country. It’s called Musandam.

Musandam is famous for it’s fjords and has been called “The Norway of the Middle East.” I’ve never been to Norway… but that claim is probably a bit grandiose. Nonetheless, I’ve been wanting to take a look. When good weather and the proper motivation (a guest in town) aligned, we packed our bags and headed to Musandam.

The six of us boarded our boat to find that we would be the only passengers for the day. We didn’t mind at all.

The cruise sailed us along the fjords while dolphins kept us entertained.

Later we dropped anchor for swimming and snorkeling.

This was when my pesky little fear of putting my face in the water became not so little. I’m not exactly sure what the problem is but I’m beginning to narrow it down. Whenever the activity of snorkeling is introduced (in the immediate moment not just chatting about it), I become very anxious. Like, start crying anxious. I understand that I’m not required to join, but I still feel like I should. Then I’m all mixed up and scared of the water even though I know everything’s going to be ok.

Emotionally complicated story short… I’m standing on the edge of the dhow trying to jump in and feeling horribly embarrassed for being so freaked out to do something I’ve done many times before, when a nearby dhow calls out to let me know that they too are eagerly awaiting my jump. Oh jeeze.

It was a process. But I did it. And it was fine. Even nice.

Special thanks to Shauna for treading water in the jellies for so long and Mike for jumping with me.

Look at the urchin our guide pulled up:

After the cruise we headed back to the Emirates, but not before stopping at a little playground/lookout combo.

It was a very happy day.

xo, jill