salalah

we sailed in convoy around 600 miles from muscat to salalah. the four original boats departed together from muscat and then we met a fifth along the way who joined. convoy sailing was thought and uncomfortable but it provided the security of the numbers. we thought that if the pirates saw many boats together they would be turned down from any desire of attacking because the logistics of handling 5 boats would be too complicated for them. also with more boats everyone has less chances of being taken. sadly this is the thought of many… let them take the others and not me…. ! during the entire leg the tension levels were high due to the long sleepless nights and constant watch and attention during day and night, not only watching possible pirates but also the other boats of the convoy. at all times we maintained a set speed and distance from each other. this is difficult to accomplish when you have wind and waves. luckily for all of us, most of the time we sailed with other boats we had little to no wind, allowing us to somewhat maintain the formation.


once in salalah we were able to sleep again and recover strength for the next leg f convoy sailing. in this town we rented a car and did some sightseeing across the dessert, went to the beautiful beaches, the beloved lulu supermarket and in general had a relaxing and fun time. we did not have to work so much on the boat here as we had done practically everything back in muscat, so salalah was all about enjoying our time in such a different place. and very different to us indeed because we are just not used to this culture. just seeing camels and goats out the window and completely covered women everywhere is so bizarre…. I assume that is how omanis feel when they go to south america… maybe seeing us dance men and women so close together is something they will be shocked to see… I can only imagine their faces watching a couple dancing tango. but this is the beauty of traveling which we love so much. to learn about the differences everywhere! this entire trip has certainly been an education!