Thursday, April 25th
We are at red circle with yellow arrow.
We arrived at the port for Fujairah, one of the 7 emirates making up the United Arab Emirates and the only one that has a coastline on the Gulf of Oman and none on the Persian Gulf. It was the last of the emirates to join the UAE and did so in 1971. Fujairah is the fifth largest of the 7 emirates with a population of only 130,000. Although it has no oil production, there is a pipeline from Dubai to here. The pipeline was built so oil could still be moved out of the Persian Gulf in case the Strait of Hormuz was ever closed (Iran has recently threatened to do this). After all 90% of all crude oil comes out of Persian Gulf. Fujairah was developed in the 1980's when during the Gulf War the Persian Gulf was closed. Its economy is based on UAE government subsidies and grants. Local industries consists of cement, stone crushing, and some mining of iron, copper, and magnesium, As you will see from the photos, Fujairah is very mountainous, and as a result, it has more rainfall than the other emirates, all on the Persian Gulf desert coastline. They produce fruits and vegetables here for the rest of the emirates. The little plots of farming and greenhouses are located in the mountain valleys where the oasis's are. The annual rainfall is 4 inches but there are underground pools of water in the valleys. You will see what I am talking about when you see the photos. We also passed by a fairly large poultry operation today. The port is also important to its economy. The pipeline runs a few miles out in gulf where it is loaded on tankers. Compared to our stops in Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi, Fujairah is a lot smaller and not nearly as developed. There are a few new hotels here so tourism is being developed also to help the economy. Again you will see pictures of the large family compounds, usually with stone fence around them, and some government housing projects. We found this to be a very interesting day and so much different than past ports due to the mountainous terrain. Spent all afternoon putting photos on so enjoy!
Fujairah skyline as we sailed in.
Some of the office buildings by port.
Name in Arabic on this side
In English on opposite side.
One of the many small mosques we saw again today.
Compounds for "local" (Emiratis).
Fujairah Fort that had been restored. Could not go inside.
Some ruins around the fort
New mosque in distance
One of our stops to see this small museum.
New mosque that is not completed or open. It hasn't even been named yet.
Mountains not far off in distance.
Large family compounds with walls around them.
Some sort of mining in the distance.
Palm date plantation.
Fruit and vegetable farm in oasis
Small fort in the palm date plantation.
A look inside gate of one of the compounds
Greenhouses
Fruit and vegetable road side stands.
Are you getting tired of the mosque photos??
Army base guarding the mountain pass.
The mountain pass village of Masafi's hospital
A Souq (market) that we visited. We got a package of Arabian dates for $1.
The fruits and vegetables were VERY nice. The local people buy foods daily including going to the fish market near port.
Some beautiful rugs.
Potteries
More compounds. I would like to know the cost of these.
Soccer field
School--Kids go Sunday thru Thursdays. Friday and Saturday is holidays here.
Traffic round about
Green color means copper ore.
Our guide says this is "grand canyon" of Fujairah.
Different colors in the rocks
Our tour buses were new and extremely nice.
Desolate terrain.
Man taking nap in the shade of the light pole. How funny is this??
Flag of the UAE flying on top of hill.
Photos with colors of the rocks
Clicking on the photos will enlarge them. There is a goat in middle of this photo.
Very nice looking and colorful homes.
Poultry farm
https://goo.gl/photos/cJ5zEBLs8LHdrPDbA
Oasis
https://goo.gl/photos/cJ5zEBLs8LHdrPDbA
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