| Fishing Oman |
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Page 7 of 7  > ACCESS > Nothing beats Virgin Atlantic’s new Upper Class service to Dubai via London (virgin-atlantic.com). The fare buys a private mini-suite equipped with a 6.6-foot-long flat bed, a desk and laptop outlet, a ten-inch TV with access to new-release fi... Within moments of his first cast, Andersen hooked a beautiful anfalous, the Omani term for mahi-mahi, and then, two beats later, Brothers did the same. They boated both of them, then cast again. Instantly, something took Andersen’s line halfway to Iran. “Haji-Baba!” Andersen breathed, and the fight was on. It took him 40 minutes to land his fish, and when he did, Gerrard went nuts. It was a 44-pound mahi-mahi almost as tall as Hussein. “That’s the biggest anfalous I’ve seen in Oman,” Gerrard said. Brothers scoffed. “Awww, it’s just a toddler. Maybe two years old.” “Then how come Gerrard says it’s a monster?” “They live fast, die young,” Brothers said with a shrug. With ample meat for dinner, the guys jetted back to the hotel. The chefs at the Al Jissah accept any fish like a fine gift, and they cook it to order. In the hotel lobby, the guys attracted a crowd thrilled by the big, blunt-faced anfalous. A light-skinned woman in an all-black abaya stepped forward with her husband, who was dressed in a bright white thobe and ghutra, the classic Arab robe and headdress. His name, he said, was Nasser Al-Salman. They were from Saudi Arabia. “But we had our sons in the States,” he told us. “They are American citizens, now in school at the University of North Carolina. We love America.” “And we love the Middle East,” Brothers and Andersen replied. The four stood there and talked like old friends, leaning toward each other over the fish. It was an impromptu summit in a land whose ruler is trying to define his country as much by what it doesn’t have—skyscrapers, traffic, Beverly Hills shopping, and strife—as what it does: quiet historic elegance, a great winter climate, spectacular hotels, perfect beaches, and some very serious fishing. As the group stood talking, the two Americans had to hope that Sultan Qaboos’s magic kingdom will keep its charm—inshallah, as the Omanis say, “God willing”—once the rest of the traveling world discovers it. For the moment, though, they were happy to have the place to themselves because, likely as not, the rough, indeed, is coming. Comments (0)
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