Fujeirah

The UAE has seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, Ras al Khaimah, Ajman, Um Al Quwain, and Fujeirah. We've been in the first four long enough to go for runs, spot flamingos, camp, and scope beaches. We've hardly touched the last three. Especially Fujeirah, the pink region on the map below.

This is a serious omission. On the east coast of the Arabian peninsula, just below lovely Musandam, Fujeirah has an entirely different look and feel: coastal mountains gathered next to sandy beaches, tremendous snorkeling (or, in our case, diving with goggles), and a whole new gulf to swim in. 

The drive there from Abu Dhabi sent us up past Dubai, through the rather scrubby interior....

....until dunes begin in earnest.  

And then, as if the terrain couldn't get any stranger, the mountains set in. 

Then it was over the mountains and a quick swoop down to the coast, where we stopped at a tiny Indian restaurant.

"No menu, just biryani," the proprietor explained enthusiastically. Two deep-fried fish later, we wandered out to meet the Gulf of Oman. 

We made it up the coast nearly to Dibba, where we stopped at Snoopy Island, named for its uncanny resemblance to Snoopy asleep on top of his dog house.

 

And that's where we spent the night. On the beach, with an Emirati family camping nextdoor.  

But first, we played some frisbee, swam in our front yard....

....and watched the sun set.

 

 The next day, we swam out to the coral reef near Snoopy Island, where we saw fish that could only be described as tie-died, sea slugs, urchins, anenomes, and all kinds of coral. We lay on the beach afterwards, listening to the German, Russian, and dubious English of the various vacationers. And then started back by a different route.