Qurum/Shatti beach, Muscat

One of the loveliest things about living in Muscat is the proximity of the office to the beach.  Being able to have a dip in the sea before breakfast is a joy, and the water is usually calm, clear and deserted.  On a good day, you may swim with a shoal of sardines or flying fish.  On a bad day, the Omani football team may be training on the beach.  Either way, it feels like a real luxury having the sea to yourself before a dry day in the office, and the palm trees and pure white sand feel a world away from London. 

You can park at Jawharat Al Shatti, and swim west.  There are two concrete jetties jutting out into the sea, one at Jawaharat Al Shatti and the other a few hundred metres west, which make convenient targets to swim towards.  The beach is relatively clean and the water fairly safe, but it is probably best to swim in the early morning when there are fewer people about to avoid attracting too much attention when you strip off.

Key facts:

Location:                                  Qurum beach/Shatti beach

Google map reference:

Welcome to Wild Swim Oman

Oman is a beautiful country which offers the adventurous swimmer a multitude of opportunities.  There are thousands of miles of coastline, glorious secluded pools tucked into river valleys ('wadis') and hidden sink holes on the edge of the desert, all waiting for you to dip your toes in and seek respite from the baking heat.  You may not automatically associate a desert country with wild swimming but with very little effort you will find a vast array of swimming spots, and in many cases you will be the only one there.  With few public swimming pools, wild swimming is the natural alternative.

Over the course of the next few months, we hope to build up this guide of places to swim in Oman.  We will also list any other swimming-related information such as events and contacts, so if you have any suggestions, please do send them our way.

In the meantime, happy swimming.