Oman, at the East End of the Saudi Arabian Peninsula

The day after we left India, our ship’s captain ordered extra anti-piracy security measures.  Before we reached Mumbai, Captain Palmieri had held a security briefing and read a statement about piracy. He said we would change our course to stay closer to shore and navigate at maximum speed to Muscat.  He attempted to reassure the passengers that the chance of encountering pirates was extremely remote.  Nonetheless, one woman was deeply upset and decided to leave Silver Wind at Mumbai rather than spend four days sailing along the coast of Pakistan and Iran.  The ship’s Customer Relations Manager, Saskia, somehow arranged hotels, transfers and flights for her immediately after the briefing.  Now that’s customer service!

Portions of the ship were not lit at night to assist lookouts that were posted at the front and rear.  Silver Wind went fast (approx 23 mph), the lookouts looked and absolutely nothing happened.  Michael and I did catch a small glimpse of the western Pakistani coast – it was just a dark area in the haze.  We hugged the shore instead of cutting directly across the northern Indian Ocean (locally known as the Arabian Sea).  This added several hundred miles to our course but the increased speed allowed us to arrive in We did not realize it at the time but these were only some of the security measures we would be subject to crossing the Red Sea later.

All Kinds of Tourist Trinkets are For Sale Here

Only 24 passengers stayed on Silver Wind at the cruise segment turnaround point of Muscat.  Two hundred some odd passengers debarked in the morning and about a hundred new passengers came aboard after they left.  Captain Arma had come on board at Mumbai.  He took over as captain of the Silver Wind and Captain Palmieri left for home.  The crew reprovisioned the ship. Captain Palmieri had spent the winter taking Silver Wind to various ports in Asia. Captain Arma was taking over for the summer season in the Mediterranean.   Our two-segment cruse from Singapore to Athens was a semi-annual repositioning cruise.

 

Our Tour Guide Checking With the Bus Driver

The "Old City" of Muscat

Entrance to Private Museum Showing Omani Historical Objects and Daily Life
Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said is Prominently Featured

Michael had urged  the tour desk to arrange a short tour of Muscat when we saw that the original itinerary showed no activities planned during the stop. Sylvia the tour manager, had come through with a short tour of some of the highlights of Muscat.  Almost all of the “in transit” passengers boarded a tour bus and visited the souk, a kind of indoor flea market and mall; a private museum that was actually worthwhile and the exterior of the royal guest palace, an imposing complex that contained administrative offices, an ornate reception hall and a small hotel.  We drove a few miles on excellent Omani roads, stopped on a hilltop for excellent views and spent a pleasant and informative few hours seeing a new city.  I bargained in the souk for a beautiful silk and wool shawl and wandered down a side aisle where I was lucky enough to see real Omani women bargaining for expensive fabrics and accessories.  I passed two women wearing black robes of expensive fabric who were teetering on stiletto heels between fancy fabric shops.  They used expensive make-up and were carrying Gucci bags.  The Omanis are NOT poor.

 

Hotel at the Guest Palace

Michael and I skipped the strongly recommended lifeboat drill that was optional for those of us continuing on the next leg of the cruise.  We had our butler serve us martinis and potato chips on our veranda.  We enjoyed leisurely drinks while the others put on their life jackets and assembled in the Panorama Lounge on eight deck to listen to the safety instructions we have heard many, many times.  Michael said to me, “I’m all excited! We’re going on a cruise!”

 

My One Day Visa to Visit Salalah

Silver Wind’s next port of call was at Salalah, Oman, following another sea day.  Salalah is at the opposite end of Oman from Muscat. Michael had visited this port three times previously and did not think it worth his while to take essentially the same simple tour for a fourth time.  So, I went by myself on a tour called “Serene Salalah”.  Again, there were not a lot of sights to see.  We stopped at the Great Mosque a new structure completed within the last few years. It was Tuesday afternoon and interior visits by non-believers are not allowed in the afternoons.  Thirty minutes to take pictures seemed a lot, but I had some interesting conversation with fellow tourists in the air-conditioned bus after I completed a circuit of the structure.  We drove to the suburbs and stopped at a vegetable seller’s stall and took photographs of the locally grown fruit and vegetables for sale. Salalah gets more rain than anywhere on the Arabian Peninsula so the city actually grows a large amount of the fruit and vegetables locally consumed.  Our tour guide mentioned that the area has thirteen types of bananas and several different kinds of coconut palms.  Onions, garlic, tomatoes, and other vegetables have been introduced as well as a variety of herbs and spices.

Salalah is a Modern City

Entrance to the Great Mosque

This is as Much as I could See of the Interior
The Tour Guide Went in With our Muslim Ship's Escort the Rest of Us Stayed Outside

New Apartment Building

Very Old Residential Building
Most of the Old Buildings are being Razed
to Make Way for New Development

Local Produce at Farm Stand Outside of the City

Our tour guide described Omani food as mostly rice based dishes with meat or fish (meat in the interior and fish along the coast).  The vegetables originally came from India and Africa, the spices mostly from India.  The Omanis grow coffee (they dispute that it originated in Ethiopia).  Their most famous export, especially from the Dhofar region where Salalah is, is Frankincense.

The next stop on the tour was at the local archaeological museum.  Michael told me he had visited an outdoor archaeological site where there were stone walls and some pillars that had not seemed impressive. The dig is not on the tour any longer.  Now there is a museum devoted to archaeological finds throughout Oman from the early Stone Age through the fifteenth century.  Another building houses a maritime museum showing boats, ships and navigational instruments that were used from earliest Omani history to the present.  The museum is well done.  The archaeological site is now part of a park that also is devoted to the preservation of frankincense trees.  I had the opportunity to touch the leaves and smell the scent of frankincense.  Our tour guide told us a lot about frankincense production and trade.  It is a dried resin (tree sap) that comes in at least three grades.  The most pure is used for medicinal purposes, the second grade, melted over shouldering charcoal in an incense burner, is prized for its odor.  The third grade is often mixed with other oils. One of its uses is perfume.  I’m not clear on its other uses.

Frankincense Tree

The Sultan's Salalah Palace Gate
The Palace Grounds Cover Several Blocks

We drove by the royal palace in Salalah.  The sultan doesn’t reside here often; he lives mostly in the capital city of Muscat. I took pictures of the closed gate.  The politics of Oman are murky.  The sultan is an absolute monarch, elderly, with no heirs. Our tour guide claimed that Omanis have freedom of speech but there is no evidence of any press, free or otherwise. Oman is stable right now but who knows what the future holds?

Our final stop was at a souk that was mostly closed.  Omani shops shut down for the hottest part of the day and reopen around four pm. Our group had half an hour to browse through the few open shops.  Shortly before our time was up, the shop owners arrived and opened their stalls for business. A few locals appeared but we were the only tourists in sight.  The beginning of April is clearly not the local tourist season.

Frankincense For Sale in the Salalah Souk 

Beach-side Hotel on the Way Back to the Port
Omanis Rarely Use the Beaches
I Spotted Tourist Camels Walking on the Sand

Everything about Oman was a contrast to our stops in south Asia.  The weather had changed to hot and dry.  The haze was due to recent sandstorms.  The people were clearly living a different life. Omani men don’t do much work. They wear sparkling white robes and either caps deriving from east Africa for casual wear or turbans wrapped in distinct tribal patterns for formal occasions. I saw women only at the souks, usually accompanied by children.  They wore black robes of beautiful fabric covering everything but their faces.  Oman is not wealthy by Saudi Arabian standards but most of the laborers and shopkeepers are guest workers from India, Pakistan, Asia or East Africa.