One would think the WHS status hurts the islands more than the current status. It already national protection and the boat captains follow strict guidelines to what they say helps them protect “their” islands. With the world heritage status the tourism could be more limited and reduce the income for the local community.

Arriving early morning at the docks with a warm sun for winter, many people were waiting for the tour to start. Each boat was limited to around 14 people. I was on a boat going scuba diving that only had 6 guests in total but had slots for a couple more. The trip from Muscat is around 45min. Once at the dive site I saw nice corals and turtles, nothing special but very healthy for having a busy port nearby. Usually I would say 1 dive is enough but after relaxing at the beach on another island which is nice but nothing to rave about we dipped into the same area again to just browse around in shallow waters which felt almost like snorkelling. Overall I think this is one of the nicer places in Oman but not in the world and can't justify it's OUV. The marine life surely isn't, and whereas the osprey nests were nice that bird species isn't rare. Perhaps some of the other birds that come in other months are.

Protection needed: yes, has; WH criteria: nah; worth the trip? Definitely!