Oman Day 2: The Search for Khor Khofot/Wadi Sayq

We began our second day with a short breakfast early in the morning and then we rented a 4WD from our hotel manager. We were looking for a place called Wadi Sayq or Khor Khofot. We had always heard the name Wadi Sayq, but the locals know the location by Khor Khofot which led to some confusion in finding the place. Wadi Sayq is a dry river bed that leads into Khor Khofot. We wanted to find this place because of how beautiful it is and it is one of the possible locations for the land Bountiful according to Mormon scholars. Most of the roads took us more inland away from the coast so we often found ourselves in the more arid parts of Oman. Even the desert can be beautiful. We headed West along one of the main roads to find this place. We really didn't know if we would find it. We were first under the impression we would have to hire a boat to take us but some others said we could just drive there and walk a little ways. These warning signs for camels are very appropriate. I think I've seen more camels in Oman in just my few days there than I have seen in 4 months of living in Saudi Arabia.
This place is called Mughsayle, a nice beach area that locals and tourists like to visit because of caves and some occasional geysers that mostly appear in the Khareef (Monsoon) season. This camel is catching a snack while a bird relaxes on its back We weren't aware when we started that our journey would take us into some high mountains and then to the bottom of some deep canyon areas. We went so far up we were driving in clouds and then so far down we were close to sea level again. This happened twice on our way to Khor Khofot. We also passed two military checkpoints along the way. The soldiers were really good to us and tried to help us with directions when we needed it (even though they weren't always correct). At the second checkpoint the soldier told us to find Khor Khofot we should turn back to go into a small town that was close to it. We asked a town's person filling up some water and he pointed the way we should go. We went in the direction the water man pointed out and it led us to a viewpoint of Khor Khofot but we were so high in the mountains we knew we could still be far from our destination. We found a soldier at the viewpoint and he told us to go in the opposite direction that the man earlier told us. At this point we had already spent a few hours on the road. It was very helpful that most Omanis speak some amount of English. Already this was turning out to be quite the adventure. So we continued on. Again we went down into a deep canyon that was under road construction and then again, we went so high up we were in the clouds again. We were close and yet so far.
Here is one of the many camels we passed on our way. This one thought it would be nice to rest on the road. Camels are surprisingly calm and never seem to mind when a car passes right next to them. They seem so calm, yet make the ugliest sound in the world. At this point we figured it would probably be impossible to drive to our location as some people had led us to believe. Our only option was to continue down the road to a little fishing village known as Dhalkut. This tiny little town is Dhalkut. It is literally just miles down the coast from Yemen. We figured the population of this town is somewhere around 400-700? Imagine living in a tiny little fishing village far away from everything and two white American guys in a 4 wheel drive show up for a visit. I don't think they get many visitors in this place. At this point we needed to fill up our gas tank. We looked for a gas station and couldn't find one. We asked some of the locals and they kept pointing in various directions. We eventually found one man who led us to some guy's house and he had small tanks of gas just sitting in his front yard. We paid him to fill up our vehicle for us. We also had a little lunch while we were there. Our next mission was to find a boat. We went to the dock area and asked around. One man told us that all the fisherman were out but that if we wanted to wait until 3:00 maybe he could find us one. That was an hour and a half away so we just explored the little town and sat on the beach and read a little. I think I may have seen more goats than people here. As we walked along the beach we found a helicopter, that we later learned was from Yemen, crashed upon the beach. Apparently it crashed into the mountains, managed to land in the ocean, and then eventually washed up on shore. I heard the people inside all survived. Reading one of my favorite books while we were waiting. A lot of sand crabs were roaming about. We waited until 2:50 and then headed back to the docks. The men were cutting up their fish to get ready to sell. They offered them to us for an enormously large price. We refused. We were lucky because one of the fisherman, a younger man, offered to take us for 45 Omani Riyals which we gladly accepted. His name was Ahmed. Here is Ahmed getting his boat ready. Right before we were about to leave the engine cut out so he borrowed his brother's boat instead (not an encouraging sign). Ahmed didn't speak a lot of English but we were all able to communicate well enough. Occasionally some Westerner's do seek out this little town for the same reason as us. They asked us if we could swim before we left. We told them we could and they said it was good because sometimes the big waves can capsize the boat...this is where I began to wonder if its a good idea to go out into the Indian Ocean with the possibility of flipping with no life jacket, our passports, our money, our car keys, etc. But when else would we have the opportunity to see this place!? On the way there Ahmed tells us that months before some Western people wanted to come here, but the boat did flip. I'm not sure if he said they made it or just turned around at that point. 30 minutes of riding the waves and we finally reached our location, Khor Khofot/Wadi Sayq. It might not look like it but that boat was rather heavy. I mention that here because of what would come later. At this point we were just happy to arrive. We weren't sure if we were going to find it. Ahmed told us he would wait on the beach while we explored. He gave us a few hours to check out the place. Khor Khofot is extremely beautiful. Its a place filled with trees and flowers. Fruits grow here all year around, and bees make honey in the cliffs during some parts of the year. They say the honey in Oman and Yemen is some of the best in the world and we would later discover that is true. As nice as the place was for Chris and me, it probably only had a tenth of the green it would have during the Khareef season. Its like a tropical paradise at that part of the year and very secluded. They had some very unusual trees here. At the end of the branches we would see flowers like this growing. This would be the perfect place to build a summer home! Perfectly secluded, quiet, surrounded by beautiful mountains. Of course you'd have the occasional fisherman, or westerner visit you from time to time. Ah, beautiful. I loved hearing the sound of the waves while in Oman. Inside the caves we found either bees or hornets nests. It would be a nice place to take shelter from rain and make honey, which the bees do at certain times of the year here. There were many pools of water like this around. A lot of wildlife comes here when they get thirsty. It had been so long since I'd seen a tree other than a palm. Nice mountains for hiking! If we could have stayed a few days we probably would have. trees. trees. more trees! This was the point where things got a little crazy. I headed back to the beach to check in with Ahmed. He told me that he'd heard we might get rain (we did see some dark clouds in the distance) and that it would be a good idea for us to get out of there. Mind you he did this mostly by signs and a few English words. So Chris and I got our final picture taken and we prepared to leave. At this point the water had receded somewhat leaving our boat a little bit more beached than was convenient. The three of us began to try and turn the boat and push it into the water. We had to wait for big enough waves for us to push the boat back into the water....it took more than a few minutes. It was difficult work, more difficult that many of my experiences as a river guide. We finally got the boat far enough into the water. But we weren't finished yet. Chris and I had to keep the boat pointed straight into the waves so we wouldn't flip. We waited for the waves to lighten up, then we pushed the boat farther into the water. Ahmed told us to quickly jump on while he kept pushing, but the waves got stronger again and pushed our boat to the right. I quickly jumped to the left side of the boat so we wouldn't flip but then the waves started pushing us into the rocks on the sea shore. This is when the worry light came on in my head. Ahmed was completely exhausted and our boat was about to be completely crushed into the rocks. We got the boat away from the rocks and started again. When we got the boat perfectly positioned again we couldn't get the motor started and the waves would push us back again. I really started to think we might be sleeping the night in this place completely secluded from civilization. Finally, one more try and we got it - the engine started for us (Hallelujah). Ahmed let out a cry of joy and we were on our way.I took a picture of him right after - look at how completely exhausted he looks. Despite his look I think he was very relieved. We made it. We got home right before dark and we had a beautiful sunset on the way. We gave Ahmed 5 extra riyals for his trouble which might not sound like a lot, but it is. He looked extremely pleased which made me happy. He probably made more money taking us on this little trip than he does after numerous days on the sea. He was a good man for helping us. When we got back someone had let the neighborhood kids know that two Americans were coming and they all came out to see us. They seemed completely in aw of us and a little shy. One kid said "what is your name?" probably the only English he knew. I told him and said "what is your name?" Good times. Here they are below. We began our drive back in the complete dark through the crazy canyons. The construction workers must have worked really fast because the roads were unrecognizable on the way back. So much so that I thought we were going the wrong way. I kept thinking "I hope we don't end up in the middle of Yemen somewhere. Luckily we got to a point we recognized and the rest of the ride was a breeze. This was by far the most adventurous day of our trip but there were many more great things to come.