December 2017

I was initially lost in a narrow passage between houses, but I finally found the way to the lighthouse.

I didn’t expect that the guard would allow me to go inside the lighthouse, very nice of him. I’ve read from internet that people found the door locked most of the time.

On the way back to the hotel, I found that if I would have visited Ayjah Castle first, it would be easier for me to find the road leading to the lighthouse.

After seeing some photos of Ayjah on google, I promised myself I would not miss this place for photography. So I woke up at 4.30am, eventhough we had a hectic night at Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve, and just reached the hotel at around 1.00am.

Ayjah area, where the bridge, the watchtower, and the lighthouse are located, is 6km away from the hotel. My main point of view is the highest watchtower located behind Ayjah Plaza Hotel. I parked my car in front of a multipurpose hall building next to Ayjah Plaza Hotel, then walked up toward the watchtower.

It was still dark at around 5.30am, so I just took one flat comfortable spot under the watchtower and set up the tripod and camera.

Turtle Reserve is our main destination. We had to drive around 40km from Sur, the city where we stayed, to Ras Al Jinz.

When we reached the reserve, it was full of people, I guess it was due to the long weekend in UAE and Oman. Our reservation for turtle watching was not considered at all, it really was a first-come-first-served basis. However, they managed it very well. We were divided into 12-13 groups, then the groups were called one by one to do the payment.

From the reservation to the beach is about 2km, we started walking toward  the beach at 10pm. It was luckily full moon time, so the moonlight really helped us, since only the guide is allowed to carry a flash light.

December is actually not the season for the turtles laying their eggs on the shore. But luckily, we found 3 turtles. The first one was on the way returning to the sea, the second one was calmly digging the sand, and the last one was a baby turtle trying to get to sea.

On the way to the city of Sur, we stopped by at Bimmah Sinkhole. The sinkhole is located inside Hawiyat Najm park.

Then we followed the coastline for around 2km to get to Fins Beach. It was full of campers along the beach.

Our first stop in Muscat was Muttrah. Once we got there, first thing was to find a parking spot in this busy area. Then, getting a sit in the cafetaria next to the souq is the key to enjoy the ambience.

Our old friend came to Muttrah to meet us, I appreciate it so much, barokallah fii mas Budi and teh Ice.

In the early morning, we climbed one of the watch tower in Muttrah to get a broader view of the surrounding.