Oman road trip: dolphins and friends at Raz al Hadd

We had our first metaphorical taste of turtles while snorkelling the Dimaniyat Islands in Muscat. So when we heard there may be more turtles down the coast we felt we had to take a look. The location also sat conveniently halfway back from our most faraway southerly point at Al Khuruf with its sugar dunes.

Truth be told we hadn’t done a lot of research and so had no real expectations. The first thing we found was the turtle research station at Raz al Jinz (the easternmost point of the Arabian peninsular) where we established that one could book trips to see the turtles leaving at either 9pm or 4am. Neither time really worked for the kids so we continued 20km further north to see if the turtles there might keep more sociable hours.

The presence of the Turtle Beach Resort was promising from a turtle perspective. Aside from trips run from there, there seemed no other organised turtle action except for signs keeping us off part of the beach. There was little for it except to have a swim in the sea while we thought about what to do (this is a particularly good swimming beach btw). The light was starting to fade so we also needed to find somewhere to camp – we couldn’t stay on the beach as it was forbidden to camp there to preserve peace for any nearby turtles.

What we did see was a beachfront outfit Arabian Sea Adventures offering various watersports and activities – why not, since we were there? A few minutes later we had secured a boat and a skipper for 8am with the aim of doing some fishing (you may recall Rafe’s previous fishing involved mud larking by hand in the Nile, but he was still keen for more fishing), snorkelling, sea turtle spotting and potentially some dolphins. Result.

Camping was taken care of by parking out of the way, between a water pumping station (or some other official facility), a mosque and a ‘Public Toilet – temporarily closed’. Although no donkeys appeared, slumber did compete with the periodic clanging of chains from the nearby fish factory and several calls to prayer.

The kids were up bright and early with the sunrise, and so we were off in the boat early. The morning haze quickly cleared as we sped out from the coast into a moderately choppy sea. After a brief stop to ask a local fisherman if he’d seen any dolphins recently, we carried on out into the Gulf of Oman. It wasn’t long before the engine suddenly cut and our skipper was pointing over the bow – dolphins! As we tracked them it quickly became clear this wasn’t a couple of dolphins out for a morning swim, this was a whole pod of dolphins on the move approximately north to south along the coast. According to the captain we were particularly lucky to be amongst so many and so early in our morning trip. We certainly felt lucky. Periodically one would do some sort of triple backflip just for the giggles. The photos don’t really do this justice. Grey dolphins against a dark sea don’t make for good insta. You had to be there I guess.

We spent a good deal of time just bobbing along following the dolphins, the kids loving their acrobatics. But after a while it was time to move away for Rafe and Dessa to try their hand at line fishing off the stern of the boat. It really can’t have been more than a couple of minutes before Rafe reported a bite and started to haul in the line. He was making it look like hard work and so the skipper pitched in to help. Lucky he did as the reason for the effort became clear – a monster mahi mahi roughly the size of Odessa! No wonder it had been hard work. Rafe was now dubbed Lucky Rafe for the rest of the trip. First a major squad of dolphins and now this. A little while later Dessa’s line brought another more modest but still sizable mahi mahi and Rafe’s a tuna. I imagine this is what fishing down on the Basingstoke canal is like.

Snorkelling would be taken care of with a move along the coast. It was during this passage that sea turtles were spotted coming to the surface – massive ones! Again, the pictures don’t do this justice. Several massive shield-like objects on the surface each of which would occasionally look up for gulps of air.

After marvelling at the turtles for a bit, we moved off to a sheltered bay which was overlooked by a relatively modest but modern looking building, and a helipad. It seems this is a residence of an emirati member of royalty, who has rarely if ever visited. Regardless, the snorkelling in his bay was good and importantly in very calm seas, with plenty of brightly coloured fish for this kids to see.