Holy Leapin' Dolphins, Batman!!!

Would you believe a pod of 200 plus dolphins, a mile out at sea? Swimming alongside and in front of our boat for over a half hour, jumping and rolling and seemingly leading us along.  I'm pretty sure there were some teenage boy dolphins in the crowd, because all of a sudden, one would jump straight up into the air, twist around and plunge back in. Sure looked like a beautiful showing off performance!!  Many times there would be at least a dozen beautiful shiny black backs arched high in the air in a ripple of  perfect choreography.  Such an amazing sight!!!

Can you even count how many there are?

We had missed the first boat out, at 8:30 AM, so we re-booked a 10 AM boat, and had a lovely relaxed breakfast on the marina in the morning sunshine, ogling the fabulous yachts tied up to the docks.

I was laying my head on the table when I took this one.

  This second boat only held 10 passengers, much smaller than the first, and the captain, when we asked if there would be any dolphin sightings, only smiled, shook his head and said,
"Inshallah..." God willing. Apparently, this is a common response, as in, "Will my tire be fixed by 4PM?" "Inshallah..." Very appropriate answer when it comes to wildlife spotting!

  We were only out for a few minutes,enjoying the cool breeze on the water,  when up ahead  it kind of looked like a thrashing, splashing feeding frenzy of fish, but as we got nearer, we realized just what we were seeing - hundreds of beautiful, frolicking dolphins! Seriously, hundreds!! Jerry had a brand new lens and it was clicking; no, whirring like a National Geographic photo-journalist!!  It was almost surreal - like it could just all disappear any moment, it was so special -but they seemed to like our company and played around us, showing off and having dolphin fun!  We were able to video for a long time, and cannot wait to show it to you all!!  The guys got some amazing photos!

  Another hugely memorable and very moving moment in my very memorable trip to Oman!

But now, I have to get off the computer, as there are three patient  little girls really needing to watch some Disney after a long day of  swimming at the beautiful Dolphin Club..  Tomorrow is our last day here in this beautiful, amazing country.  So hard to think of leaving - it has gone fast but been so full of wonderful experiences.  We go to a live-animal market tomorrow in the desert at Nizwa, and then to see some very old caves and forts - an early morning start!  I love the trips to the villages here - such great people watching and a look at such an old culture.

Then off to Cyprus!  New adventures await!