Got Within 41 Miles of the Iranian Mainland Today.......

.....and it dawned on me that there were probably Iranian Navy ships patrolling within twenty miles of us.

We took a Land Rover from Dubai across the UAE to a point where the border of the Emirates and Oman meet on the Gulf of Oman.  The cross-country trip was about two hours and little to see but sand dunes.

Dune racing is a big recreational sport over here--both in 4-wheelers and ATV's.  Surprisingly, there is a lot more vegetation in the desert than I imagined.  Not in this photo, but almost everywhere else.  Even more surprising was the fact we didn't see a single oil well all day.

There were quite a few wild camels roaming around and they can become a driving hazard, especially at night.  Like I said, there is quite a bit of vegetation to sustain them.

After about a two-hour drive, we reached the border crossing into Oman.  There was a line of cars but no problems once we got to the military checkpoint.

This part of Oman is separated geographically from the mainland of the country.   It was really pretty here in a rugged sort of way--mountains all along the coast but pure rugged bluffs along the coast uninhabitable except for one place where we stopped.

Just inside the border we stopped and boarded a local style of fishing ship they call a Dhow.  Our ship was used solely for tourism but this area is predominantly a fishing area.  Dhows look kind of like miniature pirate ships and were very comfortable.

There were only about 12-15 people on our boat including the five from our group.  We had a French couple, an Austrian couple, and of course, the Texan.

They were an ok group and we got along well together but I'm aware of how Europeans like to look down their noses at "crude Texans."  Anyway, the French guy was overweight and unshaven with about a three-day growth of black beard.  On top of that, he's wearing one of those Arab headdresses like Yassar Arafat used to wear.  And on top of that, once the boat got underway, he takes his pants off and is wearing one of those skimpy swim suits.  Try to visualize Yassar Arafat in bikini briefs.  Wasn't pretty.  

The view from the boat was basically just that of rugged mountains along the coast.

After an hour or so, we docked in a bay with a remote village along the coast--the only habitation I saw all day once we left the port.  The village is called Haffa.

While Yassar and some of the others snorkeled and swam, three of us took a small boat to the beach and looked around.  

I got a nice picture of our Dhow as we headed to the beach.

It's a fishing village and there were only some children there while we visited.  It really did feel like stepping back in time--there were two main structures but several other "homes" were basically just rock walls protecting indentions in the side of the mountain.

There were electrical lines run in over the mountain and fresh drinking water is brought in every week, but in many ways it seemed like 14th Century subsistence in the 21st Century.

We had lunch on the Dhow, pretty much reminded me of Indian food of which I'm not real familiar so I was kind of careful what I ate.   Pretty good, though.

We traveled along the coast some more past some ancient tombs.

I didn't really understand how, but they were used for burials centuries ago.

After returning to port, we stopped by the fish market.....looks like they had a pretty good day.

Looks like there may be shark on the menu tomorrow night too:

All in all, a pretty good day.  Got to travel back in time and visit a country I hadn't anticipated being able to see.  back to work tomorrow......