We booked a day dhow cruise in Musandam, Oman. This company owner personally picked us up, along with two others, in Dubai and drove us up to Khasab, where we boarded a dhow for a several hours cruise through the fjords of Musandam. The Omani owner Abdul was a real joy: friendly, chatty, informative, and I'm happy to put a plug in for him (Musandam Sea Tours and Adventures)
Musandam itself was very pretty with rocky, lifeless mountain plunging to the sea.
We went snorkeling and had a good lunch on board. There were only 12 of us on the tour, with 4 Australian soldiers on leave from Afghanistan. They were a great bunch, and a bit hungover. It seems like every group tour I take there are always a handful of hung-over Ozzies around for laughs.
On the drive back, we got caught in Dubai traffic, so our two hour return turned into four hours. The driver took the "back roads" through the other emirates (Adjman, Sarjah, etc.). It was an interesting comparison to glitzy Dubai. In all a very long day, but much better than another day in some anonymous mall.