Afternoon,
Hope everyone is well. I don't normally comment on posts that are not based on our reports or me trying to provide information or advise as I don't see the value getting involved in negative posts that do not really have any benefit to anyone as no one will admit they are wrong but in this case I feel that there is a bit of misrepresentation in comments and in perception that have been posted regarding our and our partners operation in Southern Oman.
Us as Ocean Active and Al Husn have both villas on the mainland in Shuwaymiuyah and on the Hallaniyat Islands, so we operae from both locations and have the best of both worlds. Operating in Oman and especially Southern Oman is a huge logistical job and in so doing you'll find there will be issues that sometimes need to be overcome or plan Bs put in place. We have chosen to mainly operate off the island as this cuts down time from towing the boat from the villa to the marina in the morning and evening and an open ocean crossing. If the weather is perfect which is rarely this time of year you might be able to make the island in 1.5 hours each way with launching the boat and crossing to the islands, this is traveling at a safe speed. We have chosen to operate off the island as this gives us a additional few hours fishing each day because we are 3 minutes from the fishing grounds and also we fish early morning, come back for lunch and relax take a shower and be fresh for the afternoon session, then fish late into the evening as we leave the boat in the water in our marina which is 100m from our villa. We do this so there is not so much pressure on the fish with to many boats and also so we can fish the best times of the day. We are also able to change equipment or tactics through the day depending on conditions and fishing as we can get back to the villa. We are able to fish when the weather is bad as we can fish different sides of the island which are protected from the wind ensuring we fish additional days a season.
As for the island and villa we have 10 rooms with 3 en suite rooms with bathrooms, there is high pressure showers, rooms cleaned everyday, laundry done everyday if required, walk in cold rooms for food storage, fresh food and meals everyday. We also have a 70ft dhow arriving from Salalah every 3-4 days with fresh supplies and fuel. So not sure how this is not hygienic or how hygiene is even an issue as we have not had any incidents in the passed and I have been using the island for the last 4 years? It is a lot more hygienic than when we were operating from the mainland and a whole lot easier on the clients as we are traveling less, relaxing for a bit during midday when fishing is slow and we have a large team of people running logistics from dhows, to cleaners to trucks transporting clients. So clients have the best chance at trophy fish and still get to relax and enjoy the Omani hospitality. We have also opened up our marina and villa to other operators when they have had boat trouble and not been able to get back to the mainland due to bad weather and we have not had complaints from their staff or clients. We have also had some very well travelled GT clients stay with us in Southern Oman like Mogi-san from Pro Shop Mogi, Minami-san President of Hots, Chris Tang from Wei World, Sami from Saltywater Tackle and my biggest critic my Father who is 71 yeas old and if he can stay on the island then anyone can. All of the above will be coming back and we had no complaints.
We operate off the island with 2 x 39ft Center Consoles plus two villas and have a lot of logistics that we run and this is reflected in our price and service. We operate in Dubai UAE, Fujairah UAE, Musandam Oman, Maldives, Seychelles, Mozambique and next season North Carolina USA. We have a lot of experience in this region from the last decade and we are here to promote the popping and jigging community. There are operators in all of these destinations that we operate and all of us have pros and cons, no one is perfect. But I hope in future if anyone posts information about our operation that the facts are correct and clients can make their own decisions based on reputation, price, requirements etc.
If anyone has any comments or queries please send me a PM and I'm happy to answer any queries or provide any information. We are here to provide a good service and the other operators in the Southern Oman run good operations according to their goals and capabilities and at least clients have a choice on who they want to use depending on their requirements so in all competition is good but not good when information is misleading.
Cheers,
Nick
