Oman
Al Mughsail
Swells drive seawater up through the cliff's blowholes beside a long Dhofar beach.
When a swell lands, seawater rockets through the blowholes and the spray drifts down the beach's white length. At quieter tides the shore falls back to cliffs, pale sand and Al Marnif Cave.
Al Mughsail's beach runs six kilometres between limestone headlands west of Salalah, with the Marneef Cave boardwalk above the blowholes at its western end. When the swell is right the vents fire seawater up through the rock; when it is calm the cliffs, the sand and the birds carry the visit instead. The frankincense trees behind the coast flower for the bees, and the honey is a Dhofar speciality worth seeking from a proper producer. The vents are watched from the marked side of the barriers, whatever the sea is doing.
Family
Six kilometres of sand absorbs a family day, and the boardwalk gives children the blowholes with a barrier between them and the vents.
Couple
Winter afternoons put the light along the whole beach, and the headland viewpoints end the day facing west.
Friends
Blowholes, sea caves and surf make the coast the subject; the fruit-hut stop on the way back seals the day.
- The beach runs for six kilometres of pale sand between dark limestone headlands.
- When swell and tide align, the blowholes fire seawater up through the rock beside the Marneef Cave boardwalk.
- Bees work the frankincense blossom here, and the honey they make is a Dhofar speciality.
- Khareef wraps the coast in mist from June to September; winter gives it back its horizon.
Frankincense honey from a Dhofar producer, made where the trees flower behind this coast.
A king coconut opened at the fruit huts on the Salalah road, drunk straight from the shell.
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