Oman
Masirah Island
Loggerhead turtles come ashore here in one of the largest nesting populations on Earth.
Masirah's ferry arrives beside a low, wind-burnished island where fishing boats, beaches and dry hills share the horizon. The east coast feels exposed to the Arabian Sea; the west turns quieter behind the land.
Masirah sits off Oman's east coast at the end of a public ferry ride from Shannah, a low, wind-burnished island of fishing villages, salt flats and two very different coasts. In summer the wind arrives and stays, 20 to 45 knots day and night from May to September, and the kite crowd comes with it; the same months bring loggerhead turtles ashore in one of the largest nesting populations on Earth. Winter turns the island into a quiet road-trip of beaches and dry hills. Masirah was historically the largest loggerhead rookery in the world, and around ten thousand females still nest here each year.
Solo
Ferry across with a vehicle and the island becomes a two-day loop of coasts, wadis and villages at whatever pace the wind suggests.
Couple
Winter is the quiet island; summer is the spectacle, wind on one coast and turtles on the other, and a couple can have both in a weekend.
Friends
In season the lagoons take a whole group's kites at once, and the town feeds everyone cheaply afterwards.
- Masirah hosts loggerhead nesting on a scale few beaches on Earth match, with around ten thousand females coming ashore a year.
- From May to September the wind runs 20 to 45 knots day and night, which is why kitesurfers rate it among the region's best.
- A public ferry crosses from Shannah, opening a self-paced island circuit of fishing villages, beaches and dry hills.
- The east coast takes the full Arabian Sea; the west sits quiet behind the island's own shoulder.
The Dhow Restaurant at the island resort cooks fish landed by Masirah's own boats.
In Hilf, the day's catch with rice at the simple restaurants that feed the kite crowd.
Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
Canada
Cold surf, cedar rainforest and kilometres of open sand line Vancouver Island's exposed shore.
Kadavu
Fiji
Manta rays circle the world's fourth-largest barrier reef, off villages the road barely reaches.
South West Rocks
Australia
Grey nurse sharks circle through underwater caves beneath a convict-built granite gaol on the headland.
Itacaré
Brazil
The forest is still standing here because the cacao needed its shade.
