Last week, my friend and canyoning partner Hamood and I decided to take a breather from our usual canyon explorations and spend the day chilling at Bandar Al Khairan.
This spot is one of my personal favourites for snorkeling. Years ago, I discovered a perfect area there that offers natural shade and easy swimming access from the well-known 'Banana Beach'. I love it because I can go on my own without needing someone to take me there by boat.
I picked Hamood up from his place in Bausher around 9 am and we made our way to Bandar Al Khairan, reaching 'Banana Beach' by about 10 am. The only way to access this beach is by a 4x4.
As I have a small SUV car we had to hike down a steep slope to reach the shore. To my surprise, I ran into Abou Mohamed, a local I first met back in 2000 when we filmed him for a French TV documentary about traditional fishing in his village, Al Khairan.
It was great to reconnect with an old friend and reminisce about those good times.
After our brief catch-up, we loaded our waterproof bags with snacks and phones for pictures, donned our fins and masks, and set off for 'Inverted C Island', a name I came up with due to its shape.
Once we reached the island’s beach, we crossed it to swim to the other side, where we plunged into the water again to find 'Our' shaded spot inside a massive shallow cave. The weather was quite pleasant with the refreshing sea breeze.
The bay was home to numerous acropora table corals that remained unharmed during Cyclone Gonu in June 2007. We were lucky enough to spot two stunning nudibranchs that Hamood had never seen before.
The waters here are teeming with exotic, colourful fish, including butterflyfish, surgeonfish and puffers, among others like cute clownfish hiding in anemones or poisonous and well camouflaged scorpionfish.
I had a little surprise planned for Hamood. We swam about 300 metres to discover a small cave filled with stunning calcite formations — stalactites, stalagmites, and extraordinary eccentrics.
After a short exploration and some pictures to capture the moment, we swam another 200 metres to find another beach. There, we took some time to snorkel and admire the abundant soft corals.
Eventually, we made our way back to our sheltered spot where we had left our food and drinks. We enjoyed our snacks and after a couple of hours, we returned to 'Banana Beach', hopped in the car and headed home.
It was a relaxing day compared to our usual physically demanding canyoning trips, yet we relished this break before tackling two more canyons scheduled for the following week.
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