United Arab Emirates
Dibba
One bay, two countries, three jurisdictions: fishing dhows work the borders beneath Hajar cliffs.
The harbour smells of salt and charcoal, wooden dhows knocking against the quay with the morning's catch while the Hajar Mountains drop almost straight into the Gulf of Oman. The crescent of water they enclose is divided three ways, and nothing on its surface shows the lines.
Dibba sits at the UAE's north-eastern corner, where one bay is split between Fujairah's Dibba, Sharjah's enclave of Dibba Al-Hisn and Oman's Dibba Al-Baya. It has kept its fishing-town character: a restored castle guards Fujairah's side, Dibba Al-Hisn's fort stands on 17th-century foundations near its marina and souk, and fresh produce, local honey and dates still trade at the market. The sea does the rest. Wooden dhows, dive boats and deep-sea fishing charters work out of these harbours, and 500 metres offshore the Middle East's first gourmet oyster farm fattens millions of Pacific oysters in the nutrient-rich current that washes this coast. The bay's three jurisdictions mean the harbour a boat leaves from decides whose waters the day is spent in.
Solo
Walk the quay at first light when the catch lands, take a small-group dhow day on the water, and let a town with no resort strip set the pace.
Couple
A dhow day beneath the limestone cliffs, then oysters raised in the bay you just sailed, eaten as the sun sinks behind the Hajar.
Friends
Book a licensed dive or overnight dhow trip together, and leave one land day for the forts, the souk and the market's honey stalls.
- The bay is shared by two countries and three jurisdictions: Fujairah, Sharjah's Dibba Al-Hisn and Oman's Dibba Al-Baya.
- The Middle East's first gourmet oyster farm fattens millions of Pacific oysters 500 metres off this coast.
- Wooden dhows, dive boats and deep-sea fishing charters work out of the harbours beneath the Hajar.
- Two restored forts, one on 17th-century foundations, keep the towns' defensive history in plain sight.
Order Dibba Bay oysters wherever a menu offers them; the farm that raises them sits 500 metres off this shore.
Dibba Market trades the hinterland's produce, local honey and dates worth carrying back over the mountains.
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