In Oman

I don’t know where to start with this post and I suppose most followers of my writings will have read my last entry which I wrote while in a state of shock. Further frightening events happen daily as the pirate action escalates and we are told that no yacht is safe out there any more. The remaining Rally boats are all secure here at present in Salalah but we all know of several yachts still in transit to Oman and others who have taken the bold decision to carry on through the Gulf of Aden (GoA). The latest reports which we now know to be true are that a Danish yacht with a family on board is in pirate hands and heading for Somalia. There was a news blackout on this event and we naturally feared the worst. Another smaller rally of about ten boats with whom we had some radio contact a few days ago are in the Gulf of Aden and we just hope they are travelling safely
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The long 1500 mile motorsail from Mumbai to Salalah, long because of our pirate avoiding detour, was free of actual pirate problems though some of the more panicky members of our group believed that any boat nearby might be a threat and we had some quite comical sudden course changes going on around us as curious Omani fishing boats came close by for a look with big smiles and lots of waving. We kept a good visual watch from the cockpit as normal and muttered a little about the dependency of some yachts on their radars and AIS systems…hopeless against small fast skiffs which the pirates use and useless being down below over the chart table, seeing nothing.

We stopped overnight at an island, Masirah, just off the Oman coast to refuel having received permission from the sheikh himself to do so. John from Spirit of Nina, who were already safely in Salalah, very kindly arranged it all for us. It was my first step ashore in the Middle East since 1976 and the Esso tankers….. All the women were covered top to toe in black as this island is very traditional but the sheikh’s daughter wore the most extraordinary black mask that looked like a bird’s skull. I wish I’d had the nerve to ask if I could take a photo. I wish too that we could have stayed a day or two longer but there was a pressing need to get to safety and Salalah.

As dusk fell the next night we were motorsailing as usual just off the coast when I spotted the dreaded lines of polystyrene floats which have plagued us ever since Indonesia. These floats which are lit only at one end are the visible part of huge drift nets which can be several miles long and hang just a few feet below the surface. If you can sail the boat in between two of these floats, you won’t get tangled up………We were in the middle of dozens of them horizon to horizon and they became almost impossible to see as night fell. We had successfully led our team of five boats in a line across several nets and were starting to relax a little when I spotted the next one about four feet away in the gathering gloom. OK for us but lethal for Hans on Natibou, the cat behind us. He got well and truly caught up so the rest of us crept out to safety and then wondered what to do. Hans was in favour of diving under the boat in the dark to cut the lines away but this is just too risky with nets and currents. So we decided to hang around as a group til morning when the task of freeing the boat would be easier. A very long night was in prospect. As luck would have it, the next, much faster rally group were just a few miles behind us and hearing of our plight, they insisted on coming across to help with their superhero team of cool divers, The Men in Black AKA the SBS. In a very short time, they had cut Hans free and so we were able to continue ……

This was a very arduous trip with little respite from trying to be in a constant state of alertness apart from sighting dolphins and two killer whales and being treated to an amazing light show each night as the water became alive with bioluminescence from our wash. I’m now just really relieved we’re here though.

Oman is very pleasant….a little dusty but not too hot if one stays out of the sun and not too expensive either. We found a huge hypermarket that sells everything we could wish for apart from alcohol and pork products. I got carried away in the date section and sampled quite a few before buying some which are the best I’ve ever tasted. The women mostly cover up completely in black with their headscarves encasing some huge lumps on the back of their heads. I think they look weird, like Darth Vader (they glide along the floor.) or vampires even. Strangely, the men seem to think they look mysterious and alluring. Surely this isn’t what they are supposed to think? The Arab men can look elegant in their floor length white, cream or grey shirts …I think they’re called dish tash or something like that….as long as they don’t have big protruding stomachs that is. I haven’t the nerve to take a photo yet though they are all very friendly and tolerant of our general state of Western undress.

So, here we sit while the big guns in the rally, of whom there are several, formulate a master plan to get us out of our predicament. We are not supposed to reveal our plans for some reason as of yet but I’m sure it’ll all become clear soon. In the meantime, I can sit here on the boat and try out my new dongle. Everyone who travels with a computer should have one of these though it took me many months to find out what they were and I am now so pleased to have one. Lets hope it allows me to upload a photo or two now. ..............