We drove through the desert to reach the coast in time to join in the festivities at a wedding – with the discharge of rifles and rhythmic drumming it was a traditional occasion and made our 150km journey to reach it worth while.

Having enjoyed the festivities we moved onto the island of Masirah though before we arrived we came across fishermen tossing their nets so that the fish they had caught fell onto the sand in a shower of falling Sardine.

Masirah is not large and we encircled it by land - enjoying bird watching and the stark views of the island. The next day take a choppy fishing boat ride to a small subsidiary island near where the fishing fleet anchors on their return from a few days out at sea. On both occasions we bought fish, probably Bonito, and while on both evenings the fish was excellent the first was extraordinarily good.

There is an Omani saying “Those who live beside water have no worries about food” and though the work is hard the fishermen of Masirah seem to have a great supply on their doorsteps .