Amazing Beaches of Oman - Qantab Beach

This Friday morning I and my colleagues went to picturesque Qantab beach and a rocky coastline quite early in the morning to avoid the heat later in the day. This beach is quite scenic and has rocky coastline that has been eroded by sea water for ages and is quite amazing to look at .Some scenes in the Tamil movie Kandasamy was shot here extensively and I believe including a song sequence. 

Boat ride in a similar boat..see the wooden slats as seats

Reaching the beach around 7.30 am stopped at the tea shop for the tea and there we met a middle aged boat driver by name Hammis Mashri, who said that he would take us around for a trip on his motor boat right till Barr Al Jissah for RO 15. At first I was hesitant to take the trip because of the fear of the deep blue sea but then his statements that he would not be speeding and rushing like most of the teenage boatmen there and that he is a licensed boatman won over my fear and we set out on a brief ride. 

Boatman Hammis and Rahul who made the boatman accelerate

All was fine initially when he going slow and once he crossed the rocky mountain across the bay he accelerated the motor boat…the boat was jumping across the troughs in the deep waters really spilled my guts….it was quite scary with no hold on the boat each time the boat flies up and then comes down. We guys were literally holding on to the side and shouting to the boatman to slow down. He in turn was asking a friend who was facing him..Enta kof?? Meaning is “are you frightened”…and in the event my friend answers no, then he would accelerate even more. 

Natural opening in the rocky mountain jutting up in middle of the bay

Well our round motor boat trip right up to Shangri-La resort bay then on to Oman Diving club and back to the Qantab beach after having stopped for few photographs of the rocky mountain with a tunnel at the waterline finished and  all of us were thanking our stars to be back on ground safely. Thinking back about the boat trip..well it is quite risky for the following reason…no life jackets being provided by the boatmen, no proper seats…you are sitting on wooden slats place across the width of the boat, no holding points on the motor boat in the event the boat hits a large trough or wave when the boat rises up and slams down, . By the way we did see some boats with proper seats, holding rod and so forth but looks like they are more expensive and is suitable for larger groups of people.

Scenic view of the Qantab bay

The trip concluded at 8.30 am and from there for breakfast at the new Vasantha Bhavan at Ghala then straight back to the air conditioned confines of the home even before the day became hot!!! Another weekend is over here and a new resolution by me...not to travel in these speed boats again !!! Only proper powerboats that we saw moored in the Oman diving center henceforth.