Kharabah Island, the Damaniyat Islands Marine Park

  In between dives this past Saturday, we dropped 3 Europeans off for snorkelling on this island before picking them up about an hour later.  The main instructor of Global Scuba, Abdullah, told me that the island/beach is called “Kharabah“.  It is one of the most gorgeous white-sand beaches I’ve seen in Oman!  6 of us dove at 2 dive-sites (posts coming soon) and we saw all kinds of interesting fish and marine animals, but failed to spot any sharks.  The 3 snorkellers saw several black tip reef sharks just meters from shore!  In addition to sharks, they saw a lot of colorful fish (which – like me – they seemed unable to identity!) and a lot of squid. (I got totally confused because the Italian snorkelers kept calling them “calamari”! 🙂 )  If you are interested in snorkeling or scuba-diving at the Damaniyat Islands, I recommend either Global Scuba or Omanta as those are the dive centres I go with and they’re both great.  Other dive shops that travel out there are Extra-Divers and Oman Dive Centre (and others).     Have you ever seen such water before?! It’s unreal!  Here’s a video from 4 different clips of the beach and immediate area to give you a much better idea of just how gorgeous this spot is:  The Damaniyat Islands are a definite must-see in Oman, whether you scuba-dive or not!

Italian Master Chef Series 1/3 at Tuscany, Grand Hyatt Muscat (May 8-12)

   “ITALIAN MASTER CHEF SERIES AT GRAND HYATT MUSCAT –  Tuscany is set to welcome the first out of three Italian Master Chef series in May.  Grand Hyatt’s award winning signature restaurant, Tuscany is set to host a five-day Italian Master Chef series from 8 to 12 May with Exclusive Sponsorship from Qatar Airways, a world class international airline offering 5-star travel experience of exceptional quality & comfort.           Argentinean Chef de Cuisine, Francisco Canzano has extensive experience within the Hyatt brand. He started his career in Paris where he worked for the acclaimed Park Hyatt Paris Place Vendôme.  On weekends he also worked in local brassieres adding accumulative experience in French and international cuisine. His next move was to Italy at the Park Hyatt Milan, where he learned all the secrets of the Italian kitchens and continued to pursue his career with a speciality in Italian cuisine. Chef Franco then moved to the Grand Hyatt Regency in Spain and learned more about Mediterranean cuisine.  After spending years in Europe, Chef Franco made his way back to his home town Buenos Aires, where he worked at the Park Hyatt for six years as Chef de Cuisine at the main all-day dining restaurant.  Chef Franco recently moved to Doha in January, where he quickly gained popularity preparing a fantastic variety of high quality food at Rocca, Grand Hyatt Doha.  Grand Hyatt Muscat’s General Manager, Garry Friend with Chef Francisco Canzano from Grand Hyatt Muscat’s facebook page.

On the last day of the Master Chef Series, Chef Franco will host a cooking class for interested and up & coming chefs on Sunday, 12 May. The cooking class will feature unique Italian ingredients and professional cooking techniques priced at RO 18 per person. Everyone is welcome to join, cook and indulge in delicious food.

For reservations or more information, visit muscat.grand@hyatt.com, call +968 2464 1234 or email muscat.dining@hyatt.com. Check the hotels Facebook page for more updates facebook.com/GrandHyattMuscat .

If you’ve never been to Tuscany, this is a great opportunity to check it out.  Read our review of this fine dining restaraurant from about a year and half ago.