The next day, the dusty heart of Musandam beckoned me away from the coast.

BBC: Oman��s sleepy Musandam Peninsula

It is the Gulf, but not as you know it: otherworldly Musandam is not a place for those wanting fusion food and FIJI Water, fine hotels or a Lamborghini showroom.

BBC: Oman��s sleepy Musandam Peninsula

Some experts think the coral of Musandam is among the best in the world due to the absence of heavy industry along the coast and few fishing fleets in the area.

BBC: Oman��s sleepy Musandam Peninsula

You pass flaming oil wells, through the emirates of Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah, before the endless development withers and the straight road begins to buckle towards the Musandam border, where a cliffside track winds around the fractured coast.

BBC: Oman��s sleepy Musandam Peninsula

Al Busaidi, who had never sailed before joining the Sultan of Oman's Navy as young man, was joined aboard the "Musandam-Oman Sail" by his fellow 29-year-old countryman Fahad Al Hasni who has only been sailing for three years.

CNN: Oman sails into history in first transatlantic yacht race

In the midst of all the glitz of the modern Gulf, home to vast shopping malls and some of the most luxurious hotels on the planet, Musandam is a place where life itself moves at a different pace: it lacked roads until just a decade ago.

BBC: Oman��s sleepy Musandam Peninsula