Snorkeling in the Oman Gulf

After settling into the Safeer International Hotel I talked to the receptionist to find out different tour groups the hotel recommended for day trips. I already had a couple things in mind, but was having trouble trying took book beforehand online. I figured the hotel would be able to accommodate my needs, and they were. They had a flyer with different things that we could do.

One of these things was snorkeling, which was something I wanted to do. I also want to try diving, but currently am not certified to do so.

Before I moved to Australia in 2009 I purchased a camera that you can use underwater with snorkeling in mind. When I went to the Great Barrier Reef, I was with my parents and my Dad didn't want to go snorkeling. We instead went on a glass bottom boat, which ended up being okay.

This time was different. Sure, the coral reef wasn't nearly as big as the natural wonder of the world, but I had nothing from holding me back snorkeling and using my no longer new under water camera.

The trip included dolphin watching, something I did while in Sri Lanka. It was cool, and there was a dolphin doing a lot of showing off. It would jump in the air and do a back flip. It did it several times. I don't have any good pictures of it, but I was amused regardless.

After what seemed like too long watching the dolphins, the boat took off to a remote place near a private beach. The water was refreshing as it was a hot day on the boat at sea.

It was relaxing, just laying in the ocean staring through my goggles at all the active fish and seeing the colours the aquatic life had to offer. Descriptions don't do the marine world justice, and frankly, neither do the photos.

My favourite was the sea turtle I saw, just hanging out. It's shell pretty much blends right in with the coral. I didn't get a good full screen shot of the turtle, but I did get it's head and front legs with part of the shell.

Overall, it was a good start to my visit to Oman. The guy who drove us from the hotel to the marina and back was very nice. He offered to drive us to the places we wanted to go at a discounted rate. Since we had not paid for the other things the hotel had booked for us yet, we cancelled and decided to go with our new Omani friend, Mohammad.