Khasab, Musandam Trip- Personal Experience

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Introduction:  If you are tired of the artificialness of the wonders of the world present in Dubai and want to escape to something natural, something serene – Musandam is the place to go to. A divine experience, majestic climate, pristine beauty and unparalleled charm characterize Musandam. Best time to visit is from November to March.
Two Musandam(s):  Musandam is a governorate in Oman. There are two places which tour operators advertise as Musandam:
  1. Dibba Musandam (via Fujairah) - Oman Visa not required. Less costly, less enchanting
  2. Khasab Musandam (via Ras Al Khaimah) – Oman Visa required. Really beautiful place. All the details in this doc are for Khasab, Musandam, true as of Jan 2015.
Things to-do: The main attraction of the trip is the dhow-cruise. It comes in two flavors: full-day (6 hours: 10 AM – 4 PM) and half-day (3 hours). Full day cruise is the default choice and is strongly recommended. No sooner than you get onto the boat you will realize that you are in the midst of water surrounded by mountains – what a spectacular view! You can see the dolphins chasing your boat at times. Swimming in calm waters (with life jackets, for those who don’t know how to swim), was indeed one of the highlights of the tour.  If you take some bread that you can offer to small fishes, kids will enjoy the army of fishes fighting to grab the thrown bread.
On our way back to UAE, after some distance from Bassa Beach, we stopped to see fishermen signing songs and pulling their net back after fishing, like tug of war. Definitely worth a few minutes watch.

Expense (in AED):  

Assumption: You are going by self-transport.
Subject
Kids < 5
Kids (5-11)
Adult
UAE Exit
35
35
35
Oman Visa
50
50
50
Full-day cruise (with lunch)
FREE
100
180
TOTAL
85
185
265
Tour operators:  There are a plenty of tour operators offering you half/full day dhow cruise packages with/without transport. All of them would quote more, but give discount if you negotiate for a group. [For our group of 10 adults, they charged us 160/96 for adult/child]. Also, for AED 2500, they offer a private boat for hire (which can house 30 people max and lunch not served). We went with http://www.msaoman.com/ (sea_adventure@msaoman.com) and the experience was satisfactory (rating: 3 out of 5).  Check with other operators like http://www.khasabtours.com/ (inquiry@khasabtours.com) and http://www.dolphinkhasabtours.com/ (sales@dolphinkhasabtours.com)
NOTE: The dhow stops at TWO different places for swimming / snorkeling for half an hour each, we suggest asking your tour operator in advance to combine it to ONE stop – for one hour, so that you don’t have to change your clothes twice. Also, if you are a group, you can tell the tour operator in advance what do you want or don’t want for lunch.

Remarks:

  1. Going by your own vehicle is advisable so that you can save 200 AED per person that the tour operator charges for transport alone.
  • If the car is not registered in your name, you will need NOC from the car owner. AND if the car is on bank loan, you need NOC from the bank.
  • Your car insurance must include “Oman” as “Geographical areas covered”. If not, then you can get Oman insurance from the Oman border by paying 80 AED.
  1. Although Dubai to Khasab is a 2.5 hour drive (~200 kms), the time taken cannot be less than 4 hours, since at least one hour is spent at borders (UAE Exit border & Oman Entry border)
  • The earlier you start the better, so that you encounter shorter queue at the border. The best time to start from Dubai is at 5 AM
  1. Avoid going on long holidays like Eid, new year, etc. as is it is supposed to be crowded then.
  2. The ideal holiday would be to stay overnight at Khasab. Alternatively, if you can stay overnight at Ras Al Khaimah or Umm Al Quwain that is good as well – since it will allow you to start one hour late.
  3. UAE residents (expats) are given visa at the Oman border, if their profession on visa is not “sales”. Details at http://www.rop.gov.om/english/dg_pr_visas_agcc.asp
  4. We thought to stamp Oman visa beforehand, from Oman consulate in Dubai – but it did not happen because the rule is that one person from EACH travelling family should visit the consulate to get the visa stamped. Anyways, our recommendation is that stamping visa beforehand is unnecessary, given that it took only half an hour to get all the visas stamped at Oman border.
  5. People from Indian subcontinent, who are on tourist (aka visit) visa in in UAE, will NOT get Oman visa at the border.
  6. Things to take along with: Passport, emirates id, swimming suits, car registration (mulkiya), car insurance papers, CAMERA and bread (for feeding the fish)

Suggestion: Before you leave, spend some time / money on having hair cut & bread trimmed, since the photos taken there will be a memory for lifetime!!