Tuesday 27 October 2009

Oman: Wadi Shab ferry

Walking along the beach in the early morning is unquestionably the best part of camping. The mountains, the sea, the sun, the birds, the new survey point......pardon? Yes, I am sad to report that someone has placed a survey point on the edge of the beach. This is an act of wanton vandalism. I considered digging it up, relocating it or just bending the rebar just for a laugh. Don’t do this Oman. I’m warning you.
I ambled back to base camp for breakfast to run a beginner’s croissant toasting course. LMF passed, but Ethan may have to retake the course on the next Foy camping trip (tumbleweed moment). They had a wonderful time after breakfast just doing kids’ stuff on the beach, including playing ‘The Simpsons’ with a few stones. Fancy that, entertainment without electricity. Mandy was also coping remarkably well without electricity to power her GHD hair straighteners.

The chaps made the most of the sun before we packed everything into the Prado and took the highway to Wadi Shab. The construction work is almost finished and the area under the bridge has been flooded. To enter the wadi, it is now necessary to take a boat pulled across the water with rope by two scallywags for a bargain price of 200bz each. Either they will build something more permanent, or this is the Ministry of Tourism’s idea of injecting a bit of cash into the community.
It was a superb team effort to make it all the way to the cave, especially by Bethany and Ethan. Not many people get this far. Not many people want to wee over the edge of the wadi either (guess who?). Tired and sweaty, the chaps refuelled in the car as we returned to the traffic jams of Muscat.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Steve and Sarah: A selection of comments from Ethan (E) and Bethany (B):
See previous comment re Wadi Shab.....my fault that I put it in the wrong comment, due to too many sunday afternoon 'Westolls'
This was my second trip to the Wadi which has changed considerably. The cave however was exactly the same, though I managed to do the jump from the cliff, which was and I will echo a previous comment of Bethany's: scary'