Salalah, Oman

Phew!  What a day.

We were scheduled to arrive at our next port of call -- Salalah, Oman -- early this afternoon, however at around noon we heard the ship's horn blowing, then the engines seemed to shudder to a halt, and the Captain made an annoucement that "This is not a drill:  Man Overboard". 

We all rushed out onto the open decks to try to spot the poor unfortunate soul (we had been advised that this is what should be done in such an event, and if anyone was spotted to continue pointing in the direction he/she was first sighted).  The crew leapt into action, and I'm sure everyone had the same reaction I had, which was an awful pit in my stomach, and a feeling of great distress for the poor person.  The crew threw a couple of marker buoys overboard, and then the ship proceeded to travel in a very slow circle, following the marker buoys, but with no luck spotting anything.

After about 45 minutes, it was determined (a) that no one had fallen overboard from our ship, although there were other vessels in the vicinity, and (b) it was clear that the "man overboard" was in fact a pair of lusty sea turtles having a "private moment"!  (See extra for a bad image).  What a relief!!!!!

When we eventually arrived  a little late in Salalah, we departed on a tour of an archaeological site of the old port of Khor Rori -- where frankincense was shipped all over the world in ancient times.  Very interesting! 

This collage shows (yet another) camel -- this time sporting some fancy avian accessories, a herd of goats heading home for the evening, an ancient doorway at the site of the dig, and some lovely pottery lanterns hanging from the eaves of a roadside coffee shop.

The other extra shows the lovely welcome back to the ship after a long, hot, dusty afternoon of exploring!