December 1 and 2 - Salalah, Oman and Gulf of Aden

I’ve fallen behind and I have no excuse except that I’m having too much fun.  Yesterday we spent the day docked at Salalah, Oman.  I had booked a tour to go to see Job’s Tomb, a beach with a blowhole, and a Souk (market).  I canceled after one of the guest speakers who has spent a great deal of time in Oman and the UAE said it wasn’t worth going on the tour. Especially because we were there on a Friday which in the Islamic world is the day that many things are closed.  So I didn’t go and stayed on board as did the majority of the passengers.

Not relevant to anything I've written today but here's a dessert we had at a special dinner last night

I should tell you a little about Oman though. It lies on the southeastern coast of the Arabian peninsula and it is officially the Sultanate of Oman. Evidence has been found that humans from Africa migrated to the area more than 12,000 years ago. The people we know as Arabs migrated from the northwestern peninsula to the area that is now Oman.  The first Europeans to come were Portuguese after Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope on his way to India in the late 15th century. From 1507 to 1630 the Portuguese had an outpost in Muscat, now the capital of Oman, in order to protect its sea lanes to India.  Late in the 17th century the Portuguese fought the largest naval battle ever waged in the Persian Gulf area.  Their opponents were the combined forces of the Dutch East Indies Company and the English East Indies Company.  The battle ended in a draw, but it marked the beginning of the end of Portuguese influence.

In the succeeding centuries the British worked to dominate the region and signed a number of treaties with the local rulers which allowed the British to have outposts and even essentially rule over parts of the area.  Initially this was done so that the British Empire could dominate trade between south Asia and the “spice” islands but later when the importance of oil become evident it was to control that.  Oman’s oil reserves are not as large as its neighbors but it still has some.  In the 20th century after the death of a more reactionary Sultan in 1970, Sultan Qaboos bin Said became the ruler and he set out on a course of modernization and economic reforms for his country. As a result Oman is more liberal than some of its neighbors in the region like Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iran.  During his rule Sultan Qaboos allowed freedom of religion in the country and even financed the building of Catholic and Protestant churches and Hindu temples. He died without an heir in 2020 and was succeeded by a cousin who vowed to continue the modernization efforts.

In the afternoon we had a trivia game which didn’t count toward the cumulative scores; more’s the pity because we won commandingly. For our efforts we got a Seabourn umbrella. In the evening there was an Arabian Nights dance party around the pool.  My friends and I decided to eat at the outdoor venue called Earth and Ocean so we could have a table to sit at when the party began. Fortunately the ship was underway or we would have all died from the heat we experienced during the day.  Some of the passengers really got into the Arabian theme and had fancy headpieces and caftans. We didn’t have anything that looked remotely Arabian to wear which was okay by me.

This friend from Scotland got into the dress-up thing with a beaded headress and a caftan

We did do a lot of dancing and I’ll include a few photos. When the pool party was over we adjourned down to the club and continued our dance party there.  You would be amazed how many steps you can get when you dance. We closed the place down at one o’clock. I met a couple of wild and crazy Aussies I wish I’d met earlier in the cruise because they were great fun to be with.

Some dance photos. It may not look like lots of dancers but they were on three sides of the pool.

Today, December 2, we’re in our penultimate sea day cruising off the coast of Oman.  We’re far off the coast so we don’t see any land. In fact, I haven’t seen anything at all today.  Today we had a lobster lunch by the pool.  In addition to the usual selections there was a station with chilled large prawns, mussels, and lobster tails. The chefs cook jumbo prawns and lobster really well; they are never overcooked and chewy.

Lobster for lunch

Tonight we have a crew talent show which is always surprisingly good and we’re going to Thai night in the Colonnade restaurant.  I just realized that all I’ve been talking about is eating.  We do actually have some lectures interspersed with everything else. It probably sounds like  the days have been boring, but as another passenger and I were riding up in an elevator we were bemoaning the fact that it doesn't seem we have enough hours in the day to do all the things we would like to do.  That's it for now. It's time to get ready for the evenings events.