Adventure in Zighy Bay, Oman

Just a couple of weeks after our great trip to Beirut, we were off again - this time to Oman for a long weekend (thanks to Islamic New Year).  Now there is reasonable explanation why we took another trip so quickly.  I had originally booked us here for Eid (thinking we would save some money by not having to buy plane tickets and still to to a place we've been wanting to go).  But the allure of Beirut was too much so we decided to go there instead.  But I missed the 30-day cancellation deadline in Zighy Bay (oops!).  Thankfully they let us move it - so my effort to save money didn't really pan out...

But it was definitely on our list of things to do before we go, so that's a plus and we had a great time at this very special (and remote) location.

There was a bit of a sense of arrival as you have to drive over a very, very steep and winding road.  There is an arrival lounge on one side of the mountain pass where you leave your car (if you don't have a four-wheel drive or if you just prefer to not self-drive on the road - which is where we left our very not-4-wheel drive minivan!).

Our villa - love that it was made of local rocks from the mountainside

Kids didn't waste much time in taking advantage of our little plunge pool

The cove is surrounded by three sides by gorgeous rocky mountains

Meredith with mountains on the backside of the cove

Jane and mountains on the *other* side

The main pool

Meredith jumping but she looks like she is standing on water

Our doorbell - with a rope that went out to our gate

Bicycles for all of us.  Anna gave it a try but wasn't a fan of cycling on the sand

We'd rinse off our feet before entering our villa

The *other* main pool 

The front of our villa (and bicycle parking)

Ringing the doorbell at our front gate

Outdoor obstacle course

In case you wondered, we are literally the worst badminton players in the whole world...  we were terrible (but we had a bit of fun!)

Guess what this brave kid is about to do???

Regan with her new buddy (that she trusts a lot!), Itzo

See those ropes above Regan and Itzo??  Above them is a parachute....

...that lifted them right up and off the mountainside.  Yes, Regan is under that parachute high, high, high off the ground!!!  She's incredible!

Meredith at the edge

Jake at the cliffside restaurant enjoying the view

What's this??  Another kid is going off the edge??

Getting strapped in

This time they had to run to get the wind going.  Look at that brave kid about the run off the edge of a mountain???  How are these brave kids offspring of mine??

And off goes Meredith

Jake enjoying nature while he waits for his turn

The curvy road

The view

Do you see Meredith's parachute down there??

Meal with a view (where Jake and I had dinner the night before)

Jake's turn to jump off of a mountain

Coming in for a landing.  We're there waiting for him at the bottom.

Now photos from my perspective.  This is Regan

Regan coming in for the corkscrew altitude drop and then the landing

Touch down!

Meredith taking off - can you see her chute the top of those two stripey things?

Look how high!

Made it!

Jake

Sigh of relief when they were all on the ground

The high flyers - all with big smiles

Good-bye Zighy Bay

A few videos of our adventurers:


Regan:

Meredith's crazy spiral!

Meredith's landing

Jake's spiral

Jake's landing