A few more pictures from our beach trip. We came across a group of Herons that were wading in a pool beside the ocean. They wouldn't let me get any closer to take a picture before they flew off to join another group further down the coast. They are beautiful to see in flight with their large wings and long skinny body.

The place was absolutely full of shells and cuttle fish, and the sand itself seems to be made up of tiny shells. We really enjoyed wandering along the beach looking at all the different coloured shells

We stayed until sunset and turning the other direction, the moon was visible over the ocean. A really beautiful evening. The sunsets here never seem to last a really long time, but they have their own beauty with such a wide expanse of sky in the desert. Even though there are no clouds to bounce the colours off - there is a lovely warm glow over the whole sky which was beautiful , reflected in the tide pools.

I have no idea what this bird is - we will have to do some research, but it is absolutely stunning and nothing like we had ever seen before. We had a great day, just exploring and will definitely go back. Next time we will take a beach barbecue and stay and have supper on the beach. This time, we drove back and had dinner at Al Bandar in the souq, Derek had a hankering for a tray of hors d'oevres of the usual humous, moutabal, babaganoush etc. folowed by a mixed grill and washed down with lemon-mint drink. While we were sitting at the table outside, a parade of children all dressed in national costume came by singing the equivalent of "halloween apples"! It was the festival of Garangao where the children celebrate the 14th day of Ramadan and go around collecting chocolates and gifts. They all looked wonderful in their colourful dress and we saw a proud father taking a picture of his young son, probably not much more than 1 1/2 years old, the little fellow was dressed in the white outfit complete with headgear and he looked so cute. The same scene could be played out in many countries with many cultures. I always like to see the similarities rather than the differences.