Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: Omani naval yacht Shabab Oman II will visit 17 ports across 12 nations as it departs on its friendship tour, which runs from April to October 2019.
The yacht, which belongs to the Royal Navy of Oman, will visit countries such as the UK, Denmark, Norway, France, Spain and Malta on its voyage, which began on 15 April.
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A statement from the Ministry of Defence said: “On her way to the European Continent, RNO Vessel Shabab Oman II, will visit 17 ports in 12 countries.”
The ministry added that this was the yacht’s “fourth international voyage entitled Masts of Glory and Peace.”
After departing from Wudam near Muscat on 15 April, Salalah is the Shabab’s first port of call, where it was docked from 19 to 23 April. It will then sail up the Red Sea to spend two days in Jeddah on 1 and 2 May.
Four days later, the Shabab Oman II will arrive at Port Suez in Egypt, where it will spend another two days, before crossing the Suez Canal and entering the Mediterranean Sea. The yacht’s first stop in Europe is the Greek island of Rhodes, where it will dock from 9 to 12 May.
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It then halts at the Italian island of Sardinia to spend four days from 18 to 21 May in Cagliari, before passing through the Strait of Gibraltar and docking at the Portuguese capital of Lisbon from 27 to 31 May, 2019.
France is the next port of call for the Shabab Oman II, where it will spend 10 days in Rouen from 6 to 16 June, and the Dutch port of Schevenlingen will host the yacht for four more days, from 20 to 23 June.
The crew will then steer the yacht towards Scandinavia, where the Danish port of Skagen on the very tip of the mainland will see it berthed there from 29 June to 2 July.
After sailing around the Danish cape, the Shabab Oman II will halt for three days at Aalborg, from 3 to 6 July, before heading to the Norwegian port of Fredrikstad from 11 to 14 July. Its next destinations in Norway are the port of Baly, where it will spend another three days (15 to 17 July) and Skudeneshaven, while it will stay from 18 to 20 July.
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The port city of Bergen will welcome the ship from 21 to 24 July, after which it sails back around the Norwegian coastline to arrive in Denmark once again, this time calling at Aarhus from 1 to 4 August. From Denmark, the Shabab Oman II sails into the English Channel and stops at Portsmouth, where it will spend two weeks from 8 to 21 August, and then head south to Africa, calling at the Moroccan port of Tangier from 28 August to 1 September.
It then makes the short journey to Spain, where it will stay in Algaciras on the 1st and 2nd of September, and after sailing across the Med, halts at the Maltese capital of Valetta, where it stays from 8 to 11 September. It then returns to Port Said on 17 and 18 September, Jeddah from 22 to 24 September and, Salalah (1 to 3 October).
The Shabab Oman II returns to Wudam near Muscat on 7 October, 2019.
