The first time I saw Muscat Port, it wasn’t the most exciting-looking of places. Grey clouds poured torrential rain onto the city, framed with dark craggy hills, and at first glance the only splashes of colour were the dark green splodges of palm trees soaking up the rainwater. But that rain was highly uncharacteristic of this beautiful portion of Oman’s coastline, and when the sun is shining- or rising, or setting- its beauty is utterly captivating. Quite frankly pals, you’ll barely be able to tear your eyes away from a sail away from Muscat Port.
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Sunset as you’re sailing away from Muscat Port is, dare I say it, an emotional experience. (Sorry to be dramatic. Maybe the emotions, for me, had something to do with the fact that it was in the early days of travelling, post-pandemic, but it was emotional all the same.) The sky, glowing in its warm orangey-pinky hues, washed the mountainous backdrop with colour, highlighting cracks and bringing darker shadows to valleys. The square, white buildings of Mutrah- the neighbourhood surrounding the port– somehow seem sprinkled with fairy dust in such magical lighting.
Tugs heaved us out of the safe harbour of the Sultan Qaboos Port, away from the steely grey British military ship and its marines working out and sitting on their phones in rotation, away from the wooden Omani ships and their crews in traditional clothes, and into the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Down below, water rippled smoothly outwards from our ship’s iron sides, towards tiny fishing boats from which men waved up at us. In the distance, a hazy almost-silhouette of mountains, old stone fortresses built by the Portuguese, and glorious Omani palaces and mosques.
Even from a distance, Muscat is enchanting.
