Oman safari - Sur & Ras Al Hadd

Next we headed to the city of Sur (450km southeast from Muscat) and made our way to a small coastal town called Ras Al Hadd. We checked into our hotel and had a quick bite to eat before heading out at 8:30pm to Ras Al Jinz, a beach 15 minutes drive away. Ras Al Jinz is famous for year-round visits from Green Turtles. Although we were there in the off-season and the presence of a full moon often stops turtles from laying eggs (due to increased numbers of predators, such as foxes), we did see one turtle digging several large holes in the sand at this beach. We were also very lucky to see another group of turtle eggs hatch and see the baby turtles make their way to the sea. The Omani guide showing us the turtles allowed us to pick up the babies and help them to the sea. Below is a photo of Jo holding a baby turtle (the photo isn't very good as we weren't allowed to use flash).



The next day we spent some time in Sur, visiting a dhow building business, fish market and unfinished dhow museum (yep, we were taken to a construction site - however Jason did get some good photos of a very large dhow there). At the dhow building business we found out that they use wood from Malaysia and it takes one year to make a dhow.