Oman's seafaring soul — the last working dhow yard in Arabia, the world's largest green turtle nesting beach, and a creek town that traded from Zanzibar to Gujarat
Sur is a historic port city on Oman's eastern coast where the Gulf of Oman meets the Arabian Sea — the ancient center of Omani maritime trade that connected East Africa, India, and the Persian Gulf for 2,000 years. The Sur Dhow Yard (Fath al-Khair) is the last active traditional dhow-building workshop in Oman, where craftsmen still build wooden vessels using hand tools and inherited knowledge. Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve (20km away) is the Arabian Peninsula's largest green turtle nesting site, with thousands nesting from July to October.
Sur was one of the most important maritime cities in the medieval Islamic world — its sailors (the Suris) dominated trade between East Africa and India under the Ibadi Imamate. The Omani maritime empire at its height (17th–19th century) controlled Zanzibar, Mombasa, and the Swahili Coast, with Sur as a primary origin city for dhow voyages across the Indian Ocean. The city declined with British suppression of the slave trade and the arrival of steamships in the early 20th century, but the dhow-building tradition survived — now as a craft heritage rather than a commercial necessity.