Dine in the sky

Our friends were lucky to win tickets to dine in the sky and we were lucky to be asked to join them.   We were harnessed in and raised up to enjoy the view of Jumeirah Beach while a sax player serenaded us.  After we landed safely we stopped for gelato at Cone Street.  A great Dubai afternoon.

Time to say good-bye to paradise

Wanting to avoid any chaos at the ferry and to be sure we got on the first ferry of the day, we woke up early to see the sunrise and pack up camp.  We had a long drive ahead of us.  Thank you Jet Boil as without you we would not have been able to enjoy our morning coffee on the ferry back to the mainland while we watched the locals dance and sing.  We drove and drove and stopped several times for food and around 1830 at night we arrived back to Dubai.  This extraordinary trip was over but the memories will last forever.

Island day

We have gazed upon some incredible views from the door of our tent and there was no doubt this view was easily one of the top three!  The tide was so low after our bacon breakfast that we walked so far into the sea we could no longer see our campsite.  We walked and walked trying to reach the deep water, had sand-ball fights with the wet white sand, sat in puddles left behind with the tide, sunbathed at the bottom of the sea and watched the sea birds.  The guys drove into town to get some fresh seafood for dinner and that night we dined on shrimp.

Arrived at the island

It was time to stock up on ice so the ice factory we heard about was our first stop.  The taxi driver we helped on the ferry change his tire showed us the way.  After filling our coolers with ice we headed out of town and randomly decided when to pull off the road to drive on the rock towards the sea.  A little while later we came to the coast and felt extremely fortunate to have found our own piece of paradise.  A small cove of white sand was all ours for as far as the eye could see.  There was no question this is where we would set up camp.  We pitched our tents and enjoyed some drinks at sunset while floating in the Arabian Sea.   Around the fire that night we decided we could not leave this place after only one night and decided that instead of breaking down our drive back to Dubai into two days we would stay in this nirvana for one more night and make the drive home in one day – totally worth it!

Getting onto the ferry is half the journey

We waited with a few other vehicles, which soon became what seemed like at least 100 other vehicles, for the ferry.  We had time for a snack and then the chaos broke out - all of a sudden all of the vehicles started rushing for the other end of the docks at high speed to be the first in line.  It turned out the ferry we were waiting for was not the right one and a new ferry was just arriving.  No system in place for queuing and everyone wanted to secure themselves a spot after waiting so long for the ferry to show up.  We were overly excited when our tire finally touched the ferry ramp.  After much tension, blocking and begging both of our vehicles were on.  We settled in for the long ferry ride, saw dolphins and soon saw the island of Masirah appear in the distance.