Well known to fishing enthusiasts, the Hallaniyat Island group lies just off the magnificent Dhofar coast. The water is transparent, the pristine white beach is scattered with delicate pastel shells, and the hills look like chocolate layer cake. It was an idyllic place to drop the hook and catch our breath before the impending 1000 mile passage across the Arabian Sea.
Illustrating its draw for anglers, we caught a metre long dorado on the day we left.
Best time:
Early Late autumn to early spring when vis in the Red Sea is at its best.

North of Salalah on the Dohfar coast.

How to get there:
Hire a local boat from the mainland, or beg, borrow or buy your own.

Lon: 056° 01.0E Lat: 17° 30.0N

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Oman is the land of the muscle car, and in a tired and emotional state I agreed to go on a thousand kilometer-plus drive down to the Dhofari capital Salalah from Muscat one Thursday morning. You pass through the most extreme, silent, brutally hot, lunar landscape for eight hours, occasionally filling up at petrol stations manned by lonely South Indian attendants. Then (if you go during the Khareef, or monsoon season), you all of a sudden hit a thin film of rain, fog and brilliantly green hills. You battle for tarmac with camels in scenery that more resembles Switzerland than Arabia. It is a surreal, and demanding drive expedition, but well worth it.

Rent a car in Muscat and just drive south - there are plenty of affordable seaside hostels to stay in in Salalah.
Google map: bit.ly/ciyj8k

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The Souk in Muscat sells many things you will find in similar places across the Middle East but comes into its own for those Omani specialties, Frankincense and Myrrh, together with beautiful silver burners.

The Souk is on the Corniche in Muttrah, close to the ancient heart of Muscat.
Google map: tinyurl.com/37qqa95

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It is a blog which has many guides on worldwide destinations that helped me plan my trip to muscat.

www.benstravels.com/2008/03/oman.html

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Though apparently it has something of a chequered past, post Cyclone Gonu, the turtle sanctuary in eastern Oman is, today, something very special indeed. It may be a bit of a trek to get there (we camped on the beach in Rass Al Hadd) but the guided tours to the protected beach around the coast are something special indeed, with a chance to watch green turtles lay and bury eggs and - if you're lucky - see hatchlings make their ridiculous, graceless march to sea.

About 10km from Ras Al Hadd, the most eastern village in Oman.
www.rasaljinz.org

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A few hours of sumptuous coastal driving south from Muscat, the sleepy town of Ras Al Hadd, once you get there, is pretty unremarkable. Twenty minutes away, however, is the Ras Al Jinz nature reserve. There for a small fee, guests can watch Green turtles arrive on the beach to give birth and hatchlings make a break for the big blue.

www.rasaljinz.org/

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This is small guesthouse with 20 rooms in two buildings, directly on the sandy beach. Clean, friendly, nice - Arabian hospitality and style, European comfort. Fantastic buffet breakfast!

www.arabian-sea-villas.com/

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