Out on the blue was re-launched on Thursday the 2nd of December without incident and we left the hotel and moved back on board.

There have been fireworks all week. The world fireworks championship is being held at nearby Qurum park. Teams from several countries are competing and each team is using over 4000 fireworks in displays lasting about half an hour. We watched the first team's display on Monday night as did most of Muscat judging by the amount of traffic. It was the best firework display that we had ever seen but it took us well over an hour to drive the few miles back to the marina when it was over, there being almost total gridlock on the surrounding roads.

On Tuesday we drove back towards Sur but this time we took the inland route through the mountains to Wadi Bani Khalid. The winding road was very scenic and the wadi and its associated pools were lovely. It was a public holiday in Oman and the pools were very busy. Many people were swimming in them but adults had to be fully clothed no bikinis or Speedos here.We walked across some rather slippery rocks to a waterfall. There is also a cave but we didn't venture that far.

We took the coast road back and had a look at wadi Shab which is just off the main road near the town of Tiwi. We walked for about half an hour up the dry river bed before finding water further up in the steep gorge. Again it was well worth the trouble. Unfortunately having found some spectacular scenery I realised that the camera was in the car. Sorry no photos but I did get plenty of video.