Week 4: Day 6

Friday June 11, 2010

Atlantis Aqua-Venture Park

The LAU students spent our free time at the water park where we had an amazing day. We rode through The Rapids; all holding on to each others tubes making an already adventurous river of twists and turns even more exhilarating. We also tried out The Torrent River, a river of periodic tidal waves. The Rapids and The Torrent River connect and provide for a great way to view the entire park from the comfort of your tube, there are multiple areas where you can exit the river and eventually you end up in the wave pool. The Leap of Faith is exactly what the name of the slide promises, at 27.5 meters tall, riding down the slide is exciting.

Oman Boat Trip

On Friday all of the Syracuse students and Dr. Clemence drove to Oman for a leisurely boat trip. Leaving early in the morning, we rode about three hours through Sharjah and Fujairah to reach Oman. The landscape changed dramatically between the two emirates. We went from driving through rolling desert dunes and miles of date farms to weaving our way through jagged mountains and deep ravines

The boat trip itself was great. Between beating back swarms of orange wasps with our sandals and getting to jump off the top deck of the boat into the water, we all enjoyed the time to relax, read and lay in the sun. The boat stopped in two coves along the rocky coast where everyone could swim and snorkel. We also enjoyed the views. In this part of Oman, the mountains rise right out the deep blue waters of the Gulf of Oman and are shrouded in fog.