Thursday 29 January 2009

Oman: Red Tide latest

This morning Azaibah beach looked quite splendid.

No sign of the Red Tide. Shoals of tiny fish were visible in the clean shallow water for the first time in months, while further out, other clusters made the sea shimmer as they made their way eastward. Numerous fishermen from the Indian community with little more than fishing line, a carrier bag of smelly bait and a blunt bloody knife were outnumbered by pairs of Herons playing in the surf.

Towards the fishing boats, a group of boys played with the shell of a washed-up jet ski, while another team, uninhibited by common sense, wrestled with half a canoe in deep water. A fishing boat was being pulled back up the beach over well-worn bits of wood by a rusty Toyota Landcruiser while men dressed in nice white dishdashas from the management sector of the industry chatted on mobile phones.

Life seems to be getting back to normal...

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