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DaveLTB


DaveLTB

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That GBP 20 000 prize money (Gold Sovereigns?) is just too enticing...

 

First thought is the ocean crossings. A  round-the-world flight should be a flight and not a boat trip so I think I will use Dan Klaue's  Kodiak floatplane (X-Plane) and get Passepartout to phone some sailor pals to hire some ocean-going yachts to set out now with fuel supplies. I will rendezvous with each ship in turn at pre-determined GPS co-ordinates by landing on the sea for refueling.

Passepartout is already being sent on a crash course in flying - he will learn more as we go.

 

Shhh... The FAA must just not find out that an unlicensed student pilot will be flying certain legs. This is just our naughty secret. But don't worry, with my fake CFI certificate I will take responsibility for the lad. He can already do "touch and go's".

 

By the way, I would like to  paint the Kodiak with the official "Round the world in 80 days" logo. I see  some of you have already used this insignia. Can any kind soul give me a link to the logo artwork, please.  

 

Greetings from Cape Town

Dave Britzius

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In Verne's story,  Phileas Fogg resided in Saville Row and the wager was made in the Reform club. Fogg and Passepartout immediately set out for Dover via train from Charing Cross station.

The nearest airport to Charing Cross is London City - EGLC, so that is where we will start from on Monday.

In the meantime, the Kodiak has been fitted as an amphibian with floats and wheels to allow refuel-lings both at sea and on land.

She has been specially painted with a livery to mark the round-the-world event.

 

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The Kodiak parked at EGLC - ready for the start on the 2nd of November

Flight plan to follow shortly.

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  • Aerosoft

Well if you have a floater you could start from the Thames. I will be moored here:

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Will have to taxi a bit to a river section long enough to take-off from but that's all part of the trip!

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Nice thought,  Mathijs, but I'll stick with EGLC - There has to be place for all the adoring crowds on my return ! :-)

 

Creating a flight plan which approximates Phileas Fogg's actual route was quite complicated to identify the modern equivalents of places that he passed through.

In the book, he spared absolutely no expense to win his wager, so, in keeping with such a spirit, I will do the same. In particular, he spent an unbelievable amount for his Atlantic crossing.  I I have decide to send money in a similarly outrageous way:

Passepartout has been charged with hiring ocean-going 10 yachts which will hold station at specific GPS co-ordinates, each equipped with a few barrels of avgas sufficient for a 500nm leg.

Likewise three yachts will be chartered for the Atlantic way stations.

Here are the flight plan maps for the whole trip:

 

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Good luck to all

 

Dave Britzius

(Cape Town)

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In X-Plane, creating sceneries for each yacht in its standby position is very easy.

I will do so later and post images of the results as I fly to them.

The yachts models themselves are readily available in most of the big X-Plane freeware scenery libraries.

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2nd October

So, Monday evening 21h45 local time - SHOW TIME...

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Having waved goodbye to my colleages at the Reform club who had come to see us off ...

Ready for preflight...

 

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Runway start.

 

And disaster.... the Garmin G1000 died. It just switched off. Not a blown fuse. Just dead.

Oh boy... a bad start indeed...

Back to London City and let the specialist mechanics take a look.

 

3 October

Wednesday 12h30. 

Garmin given a clean bill of health... Off we go again...

 

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A perfect day over the French countryside. Not a breath of wind...

 

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The flight plan  and aircraft position approaching Le Bourget

 

 

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Touchdown in Paris. Time to sample some of that wonderful Camembert cheese on baguettes.

After today's stress with the repairs, Passepartout and I will proceed further tomorrow.

 

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Wednesday 4th October

After a short bit of Paris sightseeing (taking the local transport to the heart of Paris is very polished), it was time to leave id-morning for Turin - the next stop mentioned in Fogg's account.

 

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Passing LFDG - Dijon on the left. The alps are directly ahead.

 

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Time to start climbing to 16000 ft. Lake Lehman on the swiss border coming up ahead.

 

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Crossing the swiss border. 

 

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Hmmm... I took on too much fuel. (Note to self - be a bit more careful next time!) This climb is getting difficult (for a floatplane). Time to veer off course to port and avoid the very high mountains.

 

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Heavy turbulence over the Alps.

Note, this is X-Plane 11 default scenery and not Andreas Fabian's HD mesh.

 

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Coming to the end of the Alpine crossing - Turin up ahead in the valley on the horizon

 

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Early afternoon in Torino (LIMF).

Time to go sightseeing. I'm very keen to go on an underground tour and learn more about mysterious Turin. And of course eat some real italian Ravioli !

 

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Thursday 5th October

We left Turin bright and early on a seemingly perfect day:

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Leaving Turin

 

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By the time we overflew Genoa it became hazy

 

 

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Passing Pisa  - we couldn't see the leaning tower in this haze

 

 

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Approaching Lake Corbara, it was time to get some altitude to overcome those mountains in the distance

 

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Lost in heavy fog near Gran Sasso Mount Della Laga. We overshot LIAP completely, and after having chided Passepartout for slovenly navigation, we turned back to our waypoint at LIAP and landed there.

 

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Early afternoon - very hazy at LIAP - L'Aquila Parchi

 

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Over the mountains at 16000 ft

 

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I had to laugh... The little village is called Foggia! Now I wonder why?

 

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Going past LIBD Bari Palise Macchie on the left (barely visible in the haze).

 

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At last, a hazy dirty view of Brindisi, our destination for today. Here Phileas Fogg and Passpartout got of the train and boarded a ship for Suez

 

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Today's route

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6 October - Brindisi

 

Time to leave nice and early for Mykonos because I'd like to spend the afternoon and evening there experiencing the famous holiday destination.

 

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I'm only too glad to leave a hot and muggy Brindisi behind...

 

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The first Greek islands at 10000ft

 

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I thought Greece was supposed to be perpetually sunny? No such luck at 10000ft - the mist is just totally disorienting.

 

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A break in the clouds as we approach the mountains in central Greece.

 

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I didn't think it could get much worse...

 

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The chart says an altitude of 10000ft is safe, but that mountain up ahead doesn't look safe. Ah well, "trust the instruments and not your eyes".

 

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The suburbs of Athens (X-Plane 11 default scenery).

 

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We don't want to fight with ATC, so we just skirt LGAV (Athens international) on the right in the distance.

 

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Island of Mykonos in the distance

 

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Mykonos harbour

 

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LGMK (Aerosoft payware)

 

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LGMK (Aerosoft payware)

 

 

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Before landing, I think we should divert to the harbour and get some fresh fish.

 

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Got the fish, but the price was a rip off. Maybe we shouldn't have flown in so ostentatiously...

 

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Lining up to land at Mykonos

 

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Arrival (LGMK Mykonos - Aerosoft Payware)

Now it's off to explore what makes this place world famous!

 

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Today's flight path

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Thank you Neal

It takes a while to publish and annotate, but the world sure seems big when flying real-time - that really takes time.

You still in Corfu? 

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7th October - Mykonos 

 

I sure would have liked to stay, but we need to push on to be in Port Said (Beginning of the Suez canal) today. No flying tomorrow - it being Sunday. 

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Lifting off past the runway

 

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Leaving Mykonos behind. We will climb to 5000ft and go directly to Port Said.

 

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Approaching the island of Amorgos

 

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Pity we couldn't stop over on Amorgos

 

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Passing over Astypalaia

 

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Astypalaia - amazingly similar greek architecture

 

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Crossing Karpathos. That's the last of the greek islands - from now on it's just the boring Mediterranean sea.

 

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Very tempted to turn back to Karpathos and enjoy a quick swim. Doesn't that water look fabulous?

 

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After a very boring dreary few hours, finally we sighted the Egyptian coastline in the haze.

 

 

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HEPS - Port Said runway spotted

 

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Port Said Airport

 

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Port Said. Gotta go exploring here...

 

 

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Our route from LGMK - Mykonos to HEPS Port Said

 

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On 10/6/2017 at 7:32 PM, DaveLTB said:

Thank you Neal

It takes a while to publish and annotate, but the world sure seems big when flying real-time - that really takes time.

You still in Corfu? 

No, I'm in Heraklion in Crete at the moment. My PC is playing up and I had to cancel my flight to Port Said. It keeps crashing on departure from Heraklion. I'm using the Aerosoft/FSDG scenery and I think I may have to uninstall it.

 

So I have a bit of catching up to do now.

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9th October Port Said

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After take off we made a slight detour to the start of the Suez canal in order to follow it the whole way.

 

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Following the Canal

 

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End of the first part of the Suez Canal which flows into the Great Bitter Lake up ahead.

 

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The Great Bitter Lake. It is getting hot and hazy outside.

 

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Start of the second part of the Suez Canal

 

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The city of Suez up ahead.

 

 

 

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City of Suez - like any other city.

 

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Suburbian Suez - Surprisingly green.

 

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Up the coast of the Red sea. You can feel the heat just by looking at the haze.

 

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El Tor runway barely visible. We will stop here and experience the famous Hot springs.

 

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South Sinai - Moses' Bath

 

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El Tor holiday resort

Time to push on...

 

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After flying for the most part over the RED sea, the moment we crossed the coastline and began making the descent towards Yanbu (Saudi Arabia).

A minor dust storm hit us - LOOK AT THE FILTHY WINDSCREEN!

 

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Yanbu Saudi Arabia

 

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Yanbu

 

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Today's route - HEPS - Port Said (Egypt) to OEYN - Yanbu (Saudi Arabia)

 

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Tuesday10th October - Yanbu

 

Up and off early again - towards Jeddah. If it's possible I would like to take a detour to Mecca.

 

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Approaching the Jeddah peninsular from the Red Sea

 

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Jeddah - approaching OEJN - King Abdulaziz Intl.

 

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Jeddah Coastline

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Jeddah Lighthouse

 

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Jeddah at night

 

No chance for a visit to Mecca - Only for Muslims. A non-Muslim like me is not allowed.

 

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Leaving Jeddah

 

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Passing Jabal-Alsbaya - one of the many picturesque islands in the red sea.

We decided to make a slight detour and have a look at the Farasan Islands - a nature reserve in the middle of the Red Sea.

 

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Approaching the Farasan Islands - a protected nature reserve

 

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Visiting the Farasan Islands - after all, what is a floatplane for?

 

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Farasan islands

 

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Dendro field - Farasan Islands

 

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Final destination for the day - Jizan - King Abdullah Bin Abdulazziz Intl.

 

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Jizan

 

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Today's route - Yenbo OEYN - to Jizan OEGN

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Wednesday 11 October - Jizan (Saudi Arabia)

 

We left bright and early and flew a course down the red sea coastline to Hodeidah in Yemen.  

 

 

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Ominously quiet at Hodeida (Yemen) I don't think we will land - but rather take a hop across the red sea to Eritrea.

 

 

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War Damaged Hodeida (Yemen)

 

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This is how the Yemen tourist bureau would like you to view Hodeida. We'll skip it...

 

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In the middle of the Red Sea we fly over the Hanish islands  (Jazirat-Jabal-Zuquar).

 

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Hanish Islands - Lighthouse.

The island used to be the subject of a bitter territorial dispute between Yemen and Eritrea.

The solution was to divide them so that each country got jurisdiction over some of the islands.

 

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The Eritrea Coastline - Approaching Assab

 

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Assab Harbour - a rather uninspiring place...

 

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Leaving Eritrea - back towards Yemen

 

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Approaching South Yemen

 

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Mist at 10000ft over the Yemen mountains

 

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Mist clears of the mountains. Air very clear at 9000ft

 

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Smog as we approach Aden Intl.

 

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Aden - Old quarter

 

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Aden - Yemen

 

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Aden Harbour and Marina

 

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Today's Route - Jizan OEGN to Aden OYAA

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Hi Dave

 

Some good photos - you do some good insightful posts. Really well done. 

I crossed a little more south of your route. Desert scenery good

 

Delps

Jhb

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Thanks Delps.

I cannot emphasise enough how useful the past 10 days have been. - My geography knowledge has improved immensely and so has my flying.

It's amazing how little one knows about other parts of the world until we have an excuse to ask Aunty Google.

 

You seem to be ahead of me at the moment - also flying a single prop machine - you must really be spending many hours in the simulator. I couldn't do it without an autopilot.

 

Dave

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Thursday 12 October - Aden (Saudi Arabia)

 

 

Left bright and early again because I got a tip that we should check out Oman's secret tourist spot - a place called Salalah.

 

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Leaving Aden. Another X-Plane airport without buildings - I really must find the time to download some freeware airports - there is so much freeware available it is mind blowing.

 

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Above the Yemen mountains just before Riyan.

This desert-mountain topography is quite deceptive. I had to check the map three times before I was comfortable with my chosen altitude of 6000ft.

It sure looks like we were about to fly into a mountain range...

 

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Al Riyan Monument

We had plenty of fuel so I decided not to land as I was keen to get on to Salahlah.

 

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Crossing the coast - Al Jaidah on the left

 

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Al Jaidah

 

 

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Through a gap in the mountains just before Salahlah

 

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OOSA Salahlah airport (Oman) in sight.

 

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Salahlah

 

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Just look at the colour of that water...

 

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Hidden beach at Salahlah

 

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The tourist beach

 

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Long beaches at Salalah

 

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Ayn-khor-khareef waterfall - not exactly what I would have expected on Oman!

 

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Today's route: OYAA (Aden, Yemen) to OOSA (Salahlah, Oman)

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