Diving in to Oman
Henry Cator, Client
My first trip to Oman and what a lovely surprise - there is so much more to discover than simply sunshine and beaches. The landscape was just phenomenal - as the plane came in to land, the view was something I had until then only ever seen in geography books!
We divided our time with 5 nights of being spoiled at the Al Bhustan, two days exploring some of Oman's wonderful old sites and Wadis, and a night in the desert before meeting up with our daughters at the luxury hotel Shangri La-Al Bandar, Muscat.
It was relaxing from the moment I arrived - the staff were so helpful, always on hand and able to arrange any activity from kayaking to volleyball to sailing. I immediately began to investigate options for scuba diving, a passion of mine.
I managed to do 3 dives whilst I was staying in Muscat, which opened my eyes to the wonders that the Gulf of Oman has to offer. The water temperature was 24°C and the sea life plentiful. A group of us went for a wonderful dive on the Al Munassir, a former Royal Navy of Oman tank landing craft.
We saw soft corals, large schools of tropical fish, nudibranch, and stingrays. When we entered the wreck, I saw a massive stingray, over 2 metres wide, lying across the cabin. A fantastic way to start the day!
At the second dive site, there were so many moray eels I lost count. My favourite sight was a seahorse. But there were also countless sea urchin, lionfish, giant honeycomb morays, scorpion fish and lobsters.
My family and I went on a dolphin watching trip, during which we were lucky enough to see whale dolphins, which are pretty rare. It was a wonderful sight! We also had great fun exploring the markets and mosques of Muscat, soaking up the atmosphere. With so much to offer both on land and underwater, I thought Oman was a perfect family holiday destination and look forward to returning!
