Circus in the Sand: April 2013

We decided to go camping a few weeks earlier this year - maybe is won't be quite so warm! We drove up Thursday afternoon with Ronwyn and Yvette Hughes and got the tents pitched before dark. We ate some deli wraps and slept to the sound of the ocean. The next morning the sun and the kids got us up at 6am. I realized that I brought the coffee, milk, sugar, cups - but no coffee press! So we boiled the water on our new gas hot plate, stirred in the ground coffee, then strained it through paper towels. Oh well - have to forget something or it's not a real camping trip! We made eggs and bacon for breakfast, then built sand castles until the tide came in and wiped out the castle. We brought lots of body boards this year, and they were well-used riding the waves into shore. For lunch we grilled hot dogs and sausages, then napped in the shade - it was rather warm! We played a few rounds of Bananagrams until some friends arrived - Bob and Kimberly Alford (Gavin and Preston and their helper) and Andre with David and Trevor. 3 more tents were pitched, then we BBQ'd kebabs, warmed up some baked beans, cut up some vegies, etc for dinner. We ate as the sun went down, then roasted marshmellows for s'mores (a first for several people) and played Bible 20 Questions. We were tired that night, and thankful for the new air mattress. We got up early Saturday morning and took down the tents as we munched on Duncan Donuts, blueberry muffins and some fruit. Then, we drove into the port of Khasab to meet the dhow (boat) that would take us out in the fjords. We rented a private boat just for us and had lots of room. The captain spoke virtually no English, but he pointed out the dolphins, small isolated villages of 40-50 people, snorkeling areas, and served us a nice Arabic lunch of briyani (rice and fried chicken), hummus and cucumbers, arabic bread, stewed tomatoes, hot sweet tea, juice and fruit. We arrived back at the port in the late afternoon and started our journey back to Dubai. The border was quite crowded with lots of weekenders trying to get back to the UAE, so we were tired and hungry, sunburnt and relaxed when we got back home.