The Weekends

The weekends in Oman as in any country are something to look forward to and get excited about. Before the days of Taj, Ellen and I would plan out our adventures the Friday night and if something came up, we could quickly adjust. However, as anyone with children knows it does get more difficult when you have a child’s needs to think about.

One of the reasons we decided to move overseas was to expose our family to different cultures and to travel and see new places. When we first arrived in Oman it was very hot. We did make a few escapes to the mountains, but the beaches were off limits simply because you would eventually need to get out of the water and roast. Since November the climate has improved substantially. Over winter break, we took a trip with my parents to a remote beach near Tiwi. This beach although beautiful is a few hour trip on a rough road.

This past weekend, Ellen, Taj, and I went to a much closer beach called Seifa. The road to Seifa is paved except at the end when you really need to gun your 4WD to get up on the dunes (where the camping spots are). A few years ago, the road was unpaved and I guess it was one of the hairiest off road adventures you could undertake. As I drove through the jebels (mountains), I was consistently reminded of the amazing road engineering as the pavement passed through tight passes and impossible declines. I can’t imagine doing the trip before pavement. A lot of people talk about going to Seifa, but there were only 3 other people camping on the beach when we arrived.

We arrived at 2:30 and it took us an hour to set up camp. The wind off the ocean was quite strong and we had to attach ropes to rocks and bury them in the sand to keep our tent down. There are sand tent stakes available but we have been unable to find them as of yet. The evening was spent making dinner and watching Taj entertain himself. One of the best things about camping on the beach is that Taj can pretty much do anything and remain safe. We also set up a fire from some wood a couple local kids sold us. Taj must have watched the fire for 30 minutes without moving.

Although 7 months pregnant, Ellen was still willing to sleep on the ground. I don’t think she slept extremely well, but that may have been due to her son doing laps around the tent as he slept. I know I woke several times with different Taj body parts stuck in my nose.

The morning was glorious as we lounged on the beach, made sand castles, snorkeled, fished, walked and investigated some tidal pools. This one picture is of a typical Omani fishing shelter. Depending on the fishing being done there would be various supplies under the shade. There would also bee some logs or plastic pipes to roll their boat into the surf.

Sometimes we do not go anywhere during the weekends. In this case we need to work a little harder to entertain Taj. On this particular day Taj became very excited to where his PFD to the playground. I guess he is getting ready for all the canoeing he is going to do this summer in Minnesota.