Oman Visit - Dec 2006 to Jan 2007
(for reference, here is the satellite image of the island of Masirah)
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Me getting ready to go enjoy New Year's Eve...my first night back in Masirah after 10 years away. Strange to be there as a civilian this time, but much better that way too! |
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Offroading in Masirah. There is now a proper tarmac road going all the way around the island, so making the drive around isn't quite the adventure it used to be. But there are still dirt/sand tracks around, and a 4WD is still a good thing to have. |
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One of the many beautiful beaches. The folks who were stationed in Masirah with the US forces rarely got to see these parts of the island. |
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Yours truly on the beach... |
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This is where cuttlefish go to die. Or at least where a lot of their remains end up, anyway. |
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Whale vertebra |
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More whale vertebra and cuttlefish skeletons... |
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What's left of the whale... |
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Other side of what's left of the whale... |
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Black rocks! |
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More beach & black rocks... |
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And yet more...well, you get the idea... |
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Tide pool... |
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Nice view of the reefs/rocks just near the shore, and the breakwater farther out. |
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Mountains towards the island's interior... |
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Hey, look! More beach and black rocks! (what can I say...) |
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And not a soul in sight... |
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Millions of shell fragments on the high-tide line |
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Hey, there's somebody! My sweetie, hunting shells for me. |
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Kind of hard to see in the pic, but there were continuous streams of water coming from seemingly nowhere - actually, just the sands draining from earlier high tides. |
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Wow, more black rocks! :) |
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Rock pool... |
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Such beauty in such an otherwise desolate place... |
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Coral fragments |
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This isn't a trick of light, the mountains are that different in color. |
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Some sort of Tunicate? It squirted me with water when I knelt down to take a picture of it...maybe it was having a bad hair day and didn't want its picture taken... |
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Long way to walk back... |
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And this is where I stayed! No, not really - this is an old desert village. |
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Village again |
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A very old dhow (fishing boat). |
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Beginnings of a sunset |
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Me and the dhow |
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Front of the dhow |
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Sunset |
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Monument to the sailors of the Baron Innerdale (inscription incorrectly says 'Inverdale'), who abandoned their ship, made it to Masirah in a lifeboat, and then were massacred by the islanders. |
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Yet another nice beach - and what do you know...it's got black rocks, too! |