You've gotta love a country where the cops write you a tougher ticket for driving a dusty car than for speeding happily down the highway.

You've gotta love a country where the national cuisine is a palate-perking blend of Lebanese, Greek, Indian, Pakistani & Arabian dishes. Where children & seniors are revered, & people really do rest on their day of rest. Where education & medical care are free for most citizens. Where robberies, rapes, assaults & chemical abuse are virtually nonexistent. Where the weather is sunny & only moderately humid most of the year. Where nobody goes homeless. Not even the Bedouin nomads who, straddling their sleepy camels, drift the seas of Wahiba Sands like meditative gypsies on Hejira.

OK guys, time to scrap your neckties. Gals, kick off your shoes. Get set for some big fun on the Arabian Peninsula:

• Scuba diving in Oman.     Oman's diving islands offer bustling fish schools & big critter encounters that invoke the underwater zest of Costa Rica's Pacific coast or Mexico's Sea of Cortez. (Here's a plus -- the Oman Dive Center, just 25 minutes from downtown Muscat, is one of the most luxuriously appointed scuba operations we have reviewed anywhere in the world.) This impressive multi-million-dollar complex spans a pristine white sand cove, is crisply managed, safety conscious & friendly. Please check our extensive article on Arabian Sea diving in the Gulf of Oman. But there's so much more to see here in the modern Arabian world -- the safe sector of Olde Arabia.
• Desert camping.     This is surreal serene adventure, with fragrant air & towering dunes surrounding you. Some of these dunes are beautiful as a mind massage -- waves of pastel colors from dusty rose to cat's-eye yellow & doeskin brown -- shape shifters that never sleep. Way back in the Wahiba Sands, some dunes are steep enough to snowboard down. The Wahiba Sands are one of the world's most scenic desert regions; & we recommend you visit soon.
• Caving in Oman.     The world's second-largest cave chamber is begging for a deeper peek -- after a mere 500-foot free rappel to the bottom -- while many smaller (safer!) & richly ornamented caves perforate the desert mountains of Oman, ripe for willing spelunkers.
• Hundreds of huge forts.     Built centuries ago, these mystery-rich Omani forts loom up from the desert sands all across this country. Many of their original cannons, muskets, brass artifacts & secret passageways are still preserved, just as they were in the glory days when gunpowder was high-tech & dried dates were "power bars." Even if you are leery of historical tours as I used to be, these forts are fascinating. Many Omani forts are located only a couple easy driving hours from Muscat. They are fabulous fun!
• Canyon trekking in Oman.     The remote mountain gorges that drain into river valleys are called "wadis" in Oman. Wadis are the arteries of life in the Arabian world. There's a wild-hare sport the local expats call "wadi bashing," which I have renamed "SWEKKING." ^TM   This means swim-trekking down virgin desert canyons, shooting small rapids on your back (no raft baby!), soaked to the skin & racing to beat the rains. Why the need to rush? Rainfalls are a rare but rampant force that can trigger flash floods. Down in the flatlands & wadi deltas, rain in the mountains means new green life for weeks; so the villagers dance & rejoice. But back in the steep scenic canyonlands, rain can mean Goodnight Irene. This glorious reckless sport grabs you by the collar & pulls you deep down, right next to the pulsing heart muscle of the Arabian desert. And you go, breathless & willing, utterly happy to round the next riverbend & see what's happening. After your wadi trek you can drive down & camp overnight in the Wahiba Sands for a grande finale.

SWEKKING ^TM   may be the ultimate desert cardio-sport. It's a mix of cliff scrambling, ledge plunging, boulder hopping, gravel hiking & rapids running. Swekking is a soggy-boot mess that'll have you laughing like a banshee as you stride 300 level meters, then swim 300 more, then clamber over cabana-sized boulders, then swim with your pack some more, repeating that rocky mantra for hours on end, always staggering to shore with a backpack spewing 60 lbs of green river water, & canyon walls overhead so colorful they would start the heart of any jaded National Geographic editor. But laughing with your soaked-to-the-bone friends -- laughing & puffing with honest exercise -- that's the best part about swekking.

Yes, I am hopelessly enthralled by these wadis of Oman. Did I mention, there are scores of easier wadis, with gentle rock scrambles & low-angle hikes for the middle-agers & shutterbugs. There's a wadi out there with your name on it, manic or mellow, whatever you need. So whatever you do, watch out for this swekking bug. It's more catchy than you'd imagine from an air conditioned NorthAm armchair.

NO MADISON AVENUE MARKETING:
Reality check, funseekers. This place called Oman is not the Madison Avenue fantasy of ad-blotto dive magazines. No hot-air marketing is necessary. This country will sell itself in time. Oman is a nation of people who are honest, responsible & sincere in their hospitality. Oman is a nation so wealthy in natural resources -- clean air, clean water, clean desert sands, & a clean value system -- that I feel embarrassed for never knowing about it before. It's not a perfect country, of course, as such things exist only in fiction. There is no classic democracy here, rather a landed aristocracy. Nobody can criticize the Sultan's policies & all telecommunications from phones to TV to e-mails are firmly under government control. But folks, this is a society that works. It works in every sense. So who are we to judge a social order this decent & easygoing? The cultural chauvinists who currently run many sectors of our North American & European schools have a lot to learn from the Islamic people of Oman. Arabian Sea diving is about more than just chewing a regulator & marveling at fish life. The people here may be the best part of the trip.

ONE of OUR NEW FAVORITES:
The U.S. Dive Travel partners have been lucky to visit, & study in depth, a couple dozen countries since 1970 -- on diving holidays to some of the world's most remote adventure destinations. Our network receives more than 20 invitations each month to visit new countries, develop new islands for dive vacations. Most of these calls we politely decline, because like you, we are always scouting for something fresh & compelling, the dive holiday that won't go stale on your memory shelves. Bingo.

Now this diamond in the rough of Southwest Asia emerges -- The Sultanate of Oman. So this new website is about unrepentant juvenile joy; it's about dive vacations far from the ho-hum; & it's more a labor of love than a marketing tool. So if you're not into a Nantucket sleighride of old-fashioned fun, then please click off this page right now, before you start enjoying yourself too much in the Arab world.

I'm well into my 40s now & things change, amigos. In March 2004 our U.S. Dive Travel team celebrated 10 successful years of planning adventure vacations for clients in 30 countries worldwide. Now we find the line between fun & work gets blurry. Work must be fun or we just won't do it anymore. Not after 10 years of 60-hour weeks, paying the dues & getting the details straight. Oman was great fun for me & it will be for anyone who fits these three criteria: eyes open + mind open + still breathing.

Air tickets are super-cheap from Europe. Flights from Amsterdam, London, Athens, Frankfurt, are duck soup, one quick day & no fuss. For North Americans & clients from Latino America, air prices & travel times are equivalent to any South Pacific sojourn, nothing intimidating. You need just one overnight in Amsterdam or London on the way over. Sure, this is not a pratfall-easy trip. If Oman was an easy dive holiday, a predictable-as-a-cheeseburger option like Roatan or Cozumel, it would long ago have been stampeded by party-hearty college kids on their annual Spring Break hormone crusades. The flights to Oman are nowhere near a grind, & the rewards are bound to rock your soul.

Since returning from my first diving holiday in Oman -- November 2000 -- one key question dogs me almost daily. What is wrong with our educational system, & with our national doors of perception, that the western world has virtually ignored a country this hospitable & visually appealing -- for centuries? This is dive travel, better yet, adventure travel right out of Robert Frost's "road not taken."

Rob Gardner is a good-natured Brit from the North of England, with a down-home Liverpudlian accent like Paul McCartney & a piquant sense of humor. He breaks you up with these random "Rob-isms," such as greeting a primly suited hotel manager by asking with a straight face, "Everything tickety-boo?" Translation: "How's it goin', mate?" Brigitte hails from near Hamburg, speaks English with the precision of a university professor, & handles administrative details like a multi-tasking wizard. She conducts her cultural tours with enthusiasm for Omani history & plenty of wry humor.

Rob & Brigitte are married & raising two thoughtful teenagers. They are experts in their Arabian niche -- outback adventure guides + inbound-tour operators. Rob is my kind of outdoors buddy -- a gung-ho diver, climber, caver, trekker, backpacker & desert guide, always ready with a smile, always slow to gripe, always first to take the Butch Cassidy leap off some wadi ledge into a cool pool below.

While this Oman tour was a splendid success, the adventure started on shaky ground, most of it stateside.

A father of two little boys, & senior partner in a fast-growing firm, I have a pretty conservative strategy when it comes to choosing new destinations. As Woody Allen says, "I have this low threshold of death." No more 20-something bravado in these 40-something bones. I went to the Arabian world expecting at best a cold shoulder everywhere, & at worst -- visions of Molotovs dancing in my head.

Oman alive was I wrong. Big time wrong!

After 30 years of high-voltage adventure travel on five continents & across the South Pacific, I'll admit that I blew it by pre-judging the Arabian Peninsula to be risky for North American & European travelers. Oman erased four decades of misconceptions that western culture has engrained into urban white guys my age. Oman blessed my life with a geographic & spiritual journey never to be forgotten. Take a few minutes to walk with me through this truly wonderful land.

Here is a summary of what was learned on a 14-hour-per-day, two week photo-blitzing itinerary across the Sultanate of Oman. Here below are some TLC glimpses, via text & pictures, into some of the delightful lessons learned & visions enjoyed on this Oman dive vacation.

At dawn, laid-back camping from 4WDs in the Wahiba Sands of Oman.
© Copyright 2000 - 2007 John Hessburg, USDT.

• Package prices, currency exchange rates:  Here are our reviews of hotel amenities. We especially recommend the Radisson SAS for moderate prices & decent comfort, & the world-famous Al Bhustan Palace Hotel for delightful indulgence & 5-star opulence.
• Robert Gardner & Brigitte Wensauer:  our esteemed adventure partners in the Sultanate of Oman. Rob is an avid member of the infamous Hash House Harriers, a worldwide society of rogue runners who gave me two of the wildest cross-country races of my life. Rob is fit to the max.
• Arab customs & social rules:  are a celebration of justice, hospitality & simple decency. In America there is so much empty lip service about family values from TV anchors & politicians. In Oman they skip the talk & walk the walk. Life in any city of Oman is gentler, more civil, far less stressful than the jaw-clenching urban rush we accept as -- hey that's life -- here in the USA. Lawfulness, social subtlety & respect for privacy are the heartbeat of daily living in Oman, & across most of the Arabian Peninsula.
• Images of Muscat city:  The best gift-shopping market in the Arab World is the famous "Souq" in the old-town district of Muscat. Oman has strict laws against merchants fleecing customers, so you can find some of the best bargains on earth for gold & silver artifacts -- all wonderfully high-test alloys -- plus my favorite gift of frankincense, a pure sweet-smelling resin from the coastal Boswellia trees. Souvenir hunters will be astonished at the good deals in Muscat's Souq. It's big fun to round off any Oman dive vacations with a gift-hunting foray over to this Souq. This market will blow your mind but not your budget.

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OMAN VISA PROCESS -- Passport & visa required for all tourists, & for all Oman dive vacations. Tourist/business visas for multiple-entry issued for stays up to 6 months & valid for 2 years. Both business or tourist visas require a special official application form & cholera immunization if arriving from infected area & a self-addressed stamped envelope for return of passport by mail. To clarify any details regarding your Omani visa, please check with the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman to see what rules apply -- 2535 Belmont Rd., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008 (202/387-1980, -1981 or -1982).

All package prices listed here for Oman diving holidays are subject to possible change in this steadily evolving travel market. Land prices are traditionally stable, while air prices may fluctuate for Oman vacations. Until air tickets are issued, all airlines reserve the right to change airfares without notice -- a longtime industry standard, per FAA rules. We at U.S. Dive Travel will price-protect you to the utmost of our professional ability; & that has been our pledge for one decade now. We normally secure excellent discount air tickets. Remember please, the federal government has deregulated airlines, so only they control their pricing -- not any travel professionals. But our lodging & Oman scuba diving contracts are set for one year at a time, & therefore are rock solid nearly all seasons.

Unless specifically noted, these above packages are prices for only the land-based or vessel-based portion of your Oman scuba diving vacation, in most cases reflecting double-occupancy rooms. At most Oman vacation resorts there will be no triple-occupancy rooms offered. Some exceptions may be noted. International air tickets & commuter "island-hopper" airfares are always extra above these land costs. Nominal service fees are also extra for air tickets & the lodging + diving components of all Oman vacations. The baseline tariffs for all clients will be $35 per person for the land portion + $20 pp for published-fare air tickets. Late-booking clients may receive slightly higher tariffs on the lodging + diving.

For our U.S. or Canadian clients, the preferred payment mode for all lodging, diving & side tours -- for your Oman vacations -- is by cashier's check or wire transfer in U.S. dollars. All clients living outside the USA or Canada will need to pay only via direct wire transfer in U.S. dollars -- no exceptions please. No personal checks will be accepted for the lodging or land-tour portions of any Oman dive vacations, please. Thank you for your gracious understanding. Our service level is the highest & our prices the lowest in this industry, & thus we need to preserve a reasonable margin to keep the Ship of State afloat, thereby ensuring that your Oman diving holidays will be brilliant & affordable.

For published-fare air ticket bookings on your Oman diving holidays, USDT always accepts Visa & Mastercard, even from non-U.S. clients. For discount wholesale air tickets, however, USDT accepts only cashier's checks or wire transfers, please, since we are giving you exceptionally low net rates, below the lowest published discount fares available. Virtually Oman vacations will require air tickets in excess of USD $1,000 for most North Americans, most seasons; & about half that for our European clients.

Remember, all clients on Oman vacations will be asked by local officials overseas, upon departing the airport on your final day, to pay a nominal government departure tax, usually between USD $35 - $45 per client. USDT cannot collect this tax beforehand, so you simply pay it down there, in your host country. Be sure to stash away a little cash for this final moment at the Muscat airport, so you'll get your exit visa stamped quickly with no fuss; & away you go. Best of luck with your travel plans. We hope your Oman dive vacations are safe & satisfying adventures. Blessings & best wishes.

Best fishes too!

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View after dark, Sultan's working palace, Muscat.
© Copyright 2000 - 2007 John Hessburg, USDT.

5-star Al Bhustan Hotel, nestled near coastal peaks.
© Copyright 2000 - 2007 John Hessburg, USDT.