Today was our first official trip to the beach. I woke up early and went to the Carrefour to buy an umbrella and some sunscreen and a cooler and was a little anxious, as it was already 35 degrees at 9:00. Daryl met us at 10:30 and led us to the beach with all of the folks from our building. We arrived at 'The Wave', an upscale ex-pat area of Muscat where we unloaded the car and walked on the scorching sand down to the water. The blue waters of the Gulf of Oman were warm enough to be considered bath water. It was not until you got out to where the water was up to your chest did the water cool off enough to call it refreshing. We swam around and sat in the sun, enjoying the reprieve from everything that life had thrown at us this week; today was definitely a much-needed recharge. After 3 hours in the water we headed out to grab a coffee and a snack and headed back to the apartment for lunch and to cool off a bit before heading out for the night. An amazing Friday!