Musandom Magic - Take 2

May 5: Our first trip to Musandom last month was such a success, and with Jon and Ashley squeezing  in one more visit to do something fun, we decided to get a group together and go back out on a dhow sightseeing trip. It was totally worth it, and this time we saw lots of dolphins!

Once again, there were plenty of kids to run around with. In addition to Uncle Jon's family, we had the Updegraffs and Cores come too.

I tried to capture all of the cliffs we pass through. Even in a blog like this (where it actually decreases the quality of my pictures) you can tell just how pretty it is out there in the water! As a funny bonus, our phones thought we were in Iran (on a clear day you can actually see the coast of Iran) and on the screen kept saying "welcome to Iran." The closest either of us will get to Iran!

Dolphins! Owen was one of the first to spot them, and it had been his dream since last time to "see a dolphin's face," so you can guess who was super excited!

We were not the only boat excited about this discovery :) 

Owen, making friends with the captain. 

The pictures don't do the water justice - so many brilliant blues, greens and everything in between.

Here's where the captain stopped for us to get out and swim. The fish were swarming! Which meant the boys were a little hesitant about getting into the water initially.

Not Hailey! She jumped right in. After the boys saw that we really weren't dealing with flesh eating piranhas, they jumped in close behind!

These cliff walls were quite impressive even close up. 

Colby did NOT want to be left behind on the boat while the adults went swimming. He kept pointing at the water, just in case that would help get his point across :)

But we still did get some time for the adults to swim! And if you think you see Pringles floating in the water, you are correct. The kids figured out how to keep the fish coming back.

Nothing like a peaceful boat nap after swimming and exploring all morning! 

I had to include the picture of these goats, just to remember our Omani goat experience. These guys are all over the towns, walking around and hanging out in front of the shops. Well, at the border, there was a line so Ken was inside the building longer than usual, while we waited in the line of cars. I opened the side door to help Owen with something and give the kids some air, and a goat immediately hopped into the car! I'm pretty sure he thought he'd hit the equivalent of a goat piñata with the amount of crackers/goldfish/who knows what else is lodged in between seats and all over the van floor. Needless to say, some kids were horrified (Owen) some thought it was awesome (the whole back row) and all I could think of was ("does this thing have fleas?!") I ended up having to actually physically push him out (he REALLY didn't want to leave) and he stepped on me on his way out. Now I've been stepped on by a camel AND a goat! Life goals here:)