Khaluf

So we rented a villa near the coast in a tiny village called Khaluf. It was brand new and had a pool. On one side there were dunes. On the other side was the ocean. This little guy seemed to like me. He hung out as long as I did.
The kids didn't really get out of the pool while we were there. Samuel and I took a walk to the dunes at sunset. Matt came along. It really was lovely. 

He found some insects and a lot more cute lizards. Some fast. He got really excited about setting up a light trap that night. I am so thankful to live in a country where I don't lose sleep over my son being out all night in a new place we've never been. 


There were a lot of rocks in this part of the dunes, but some of it was just purely sand. The sand is lighter in color than the sand at Wahiba. These dunes are part of the sugar dunes of Oman.

Check out those tan lines!
Staying home, even when it's a rental, is so tame. We could've easily  entertained ourselves at the Villa but Matt is amazing at getting us out. He tried hiring a boat to take us to Bar al Hickman. He did successfully hire a fishing boat.

Said fishing boat did not, however, take us to bar al Hickman. 



We went to a very tiny unnamed island we shall call bird island. It must've been nesting season because there were a lot of baby birds and nests all over the island. One of the first finds was the giant whale carcass decaying on the beach. This trip has me in detesting plastic water bottles.

We had to swim, float or paddle our stuff onto the island. Elise and I took a paddle around the whole island which turned out to be a little tricky. Brigham did as well and I'm thankful he did it because it was much more trecherous on the other side of the island. There were waves and lots of rocks under those waves. I saw a guitar fish.
We were really glad to see the kids have fun together-all 5 of them. I live for those moments.
Some lovely caves.












We had a Stecher family movie night which was lovely until. . . 


 We sat in the majilis and watched a movie while Brigham identified shells. When we were almost done, we discovered that large and likely unfriendly Huntsman Spider behind one of the cushions. I do have more photos but I need to get them 

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