May 7 Salalah Oman

Oman is big enough that it took a day and a half of sailing at 18 knots to get from Muscat to Salalah.  This is the last stop before 4 days at see, ending at Aqaba Egypt.  This area is the high piracy region, and Oceania has taken on additional security people for the transit.  Piracy has decreased significantly in the last decade as it became more likely that the pirates would die than collect their million dollar payout.

But first Salalah.  What a great name to say.  Salalah.  We arrive in port with the tour buses waiting for us.  Note the pipeline in the background -- Salalah is a big port for shipping oil.  Lots of tankers were "parked" outside the harbor waiting for their turn to fill up.

 Here's our bus and tour guide -- he's holding the "1" sign.

 We get our entry card as we leave the ship.  All of the Gulf states required us to carry a "landing card" when off the ship.  No one except the guard at the port entry ever looked at it.

 First stop on the tour is the Grand Mosque, commissioned by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos (pronounced caboose).  The Sultan, born in 1940, overthrew his father in the '60s and has his name on everything.  After the next overthrow I see a big market in sign making.

 We got to go into this mosque -- stay on the blue carpet.  Salam, our tour guide, said that 5000 people visit this mosque for Friday prayers. 

 The holy Koran

 Typical Salalah street

 Next stop was a tourist trap fruit stand, where willing participants could have the top lopped off a coconut, have a straw inserted, and suck up the contents.  The universal response from those who drank was "kind of sour."

 Oman has a long coastline on the Arabian Sea.  And no beachgoers.

 Stopped at a souk where we could purchase frankincense, one of the major (pre-oil) products of Oman.  I think our bus was out of sequence with the expected route since the next stop after the souk was the Frankincense Museum, where our desire for the product was enhanced.

 Salam explaining how frankincense is produced.  Apparently the tree is cut and the resin seeps out and hardens, much like rubber trees produce latex.  At least that's what I recall, but it was about 100 degrees and in the sun so I left early and may not remember everything he said.

 Archeology of the old, historic port and its fort.

 

Salalah (love the name) was a diversion as we head to the really interesting parts of this cruise.We spent half a day on the tour and feel like we got everything that it had to offer.