Clara's Ocean Blue International, Muscat, Oman, 2007 onwards

Shah Alam, 2015

Though the Water World Marine brand is loved for its heritage connections (it was founded in 1991 by the ladies’ father, Captain Zuhair bin Abdulmunin Al Zawawi, it was decided that a new company should be formed to allow expansion into an area of increasing demand, “That of high end luxury sea tourism and particularly one that could handle larger volumes of guests,” without compromising the branding and imagery that had gone into building the reputation of Water World Marine as a Game Fishing company. Thus Ocean Blue International was born, and with it the purchase of the magnificent catamaran SY Azzura.

SY Azzura is a majestic 75-foot (23 m) sailing yacht created by renowned French yard Fountaine Pajot. She was specifically designed for Omani conditions by Clara and was delivered to Oman in November 2007.

Over the last five years, Ocean Blue International has consolidated its position as the No. 1 luxury sea tourism operator in Oman. “It is no exaggeration to say that on board SY Azzura, we have carried guests from every royal house in the region; as well as captains of industry (and their families) from all over the world on exclusive private charters; yet at the same time have managed to support the burgeoning cruise ship industry by being able to provide the only fully insurance-qualified vessel to meet their stringent safety requirements” says Clara.

She continues, “SY Azzura began carrying cruise ship passengers on day excursions to Bandar Khairan four years ago, supporting Aida Cruise’ Diva; today we stand as Aida’s highest rated Muscat excursion (by their passengers) as well as working for Cunard Lines (Queen Elizabeth II) as well as Royal Caribbean and Tui Cruses.

“In 2008 we worked together with the Omani Coast Guard and the management of Port Sultan Qaboos to negotiate one of the jewels in our crown: the ability to enter Port Sultan Qaboos with our guests on board as part of our pioneering Forts & Palaces guided tour; a voyage that takes in over 500 years of history in the short space of two hours. This then led to our being able to offer a truly spectacular guest experience - the ability to enjoy a gourmet dinner whilst anchored in Port Sultan Qaboos, testament to our commitment to quality and guest safety as it is a very official recognition of the international qualifications of our Captain and crew as well as the fact that we are the only tourism registered vessel to have VHF radios on board enabling us to communicate with both the Port Sultan Qaboos control tower and, of course, the Omani Coast Guard headquarters.

“2009 saw us commence our contract with the Chedi Hotel. Since that year, we have spent the major peak periods at anchor outside the hotel as the “hotel’s boat” (an association that makes us VERY proud of its subsequent indication of our quality of service). The link with the Chedi has also made it possible for us to open up the pristine and beautiful Dimanyat Islands to our international guests who are completely overwhelmed by the quality and variety of the coral and other underwater life, comparing this area very favourably against better known destinations such as the Maldives.

“In 2010 we responded to feedback from our many guests who asked time and again how they could enjoy or experience ‘the real Oman’ outside of their luxury hotels, and opened ‘Bait al Bilad’, the village house, in an old house in Qantab Village that had been purchased by the partners in 2009. The Bait al Bilad concept is designed to give an authentic Omani village experience with all the comforts expected by our international and local guests. Exhaustively but authentically restored and renovated, this old house hosts private rooftop dinners that take diners back to a bygone age of gas and candle light; where they enjoy authentic Omani cuisine that is inextricably connected to the village in which they sit; the freshest of local fish supplied either by our own charter boats or by the local fishermen; authentic Omani breads and pickles prepared by our employees, the local village women. Here, one can truly feel part of the village at sunset, watching the old men gossip in their accustomed spot on the beach; the young men play a game of football; the village ladies calling in the urchins playing in the calm waters of the bay, and the muezzin calling the faithful to maghreb prayers - all to the authentic and muted sounds of the oudh and tabla.

“Also in 2010 we began the first of our very popular ‘Experience Oman’ day trips with the Grade 5 students of TAISM who come with us on board SY Azzura at a much reduced rate to visit the coral reefs of Bandar Khairan, enjoy a day of education about marine life and (on our prompting also) eat a healthy lunch! This excursion continues yearly and is one of the highlights of the crew’s year.

“In 2011, we pioneered a development of which we are inordinately proud: our ‘Private Ladies Swimming’ program. We first offered this to our repeat client Pfizer Pharmaceuticals who yearly hold a regional sales meeting in Oman. We had hosted the group on board the previous year and taken them to Bandar Khairan and had noted that many of the sales representatives, being women, could not enjoy the water, water sports or the beach with their male colleagues. So when Pfizer asked to return to us and Bandar Khairan in December 2011, we proposed that whilst the bulk of the party could enjoy the water with a beach setup; that any ladies who chose could come with us on SY Azzura and our female crew would take them to a private beach and allow them to swim away from any men. This is such a popular innovation that we have offered it now to several of our Omani guests and it is one of our most successful offerings ever. Covered ladies feel completely at home with us, they trust us and are able to relax and enjoy the surroundings of our most beautiful natural resource close to Muscat; something many of them thought they would never be able to do.

In 2012, we are proud to have been able to add even more to our profile of offerings to our guests. The addition of the MV Diva to our small fleet allows us to take smaller groups of guests dolphin watching; snorkeling to Bandar Khairan, or offer the most fun that it’s possible to have on the water ‘banana boat’ rides, the ‘donut’ or ‘screamer’ or even ‘wakeboarding’. Response to client requests has also seen us develop 5 star beach set ups; allowing us to carry guests from SY Azzura to Bandar Khairan or now to the Dimanyat Islands and set up overnight camps for up to 12 guests at a time, where the overarching concept is that ‘only the footprints remain’ once we have returned to civilisation

It is the small, flexible and inclusive nature of our company that allows us to achieve so highly. Of our 15 employees, 7 are female. The top management team is also largely female; the Managing Director, Finance Director, General Manager and Finance Manager are all female, as is our PRO. Our Omanisation levels are excellent with 6 of our 15 staff Omani. We are also very proud of our efforts at developing and empowering the women of the village of Qantab; three of these ladies are on our staff full time, contributing towards the success of Bait al Bilad, but many more of their compatriots contribute piecework, both in food items for the dinners and also for our planned shop opening in 2013 as a joint venture with the Omani Heritage Gallery - the rest of our employees are a virtual United Nations, ranging as widely as Polish, French, Sri Lankan, Indian and Kenyan.

But we are not only committed to gender equity and cultural inclusiveness. Our company is entirely dedicated to environmental awareness and care. SY Azzura herself is driven primarily by sail; but her engines are the latest generation low emission marine Yanmar - the only ones in the country and which have required us to invest heavily in our own ability to service and maintain them. The alternative - which we robustly rejected - was to replace them with ‘dirty’, old technology engines that could be maintained by the local dealer. This would have been a far easier (and cheaper) option, but on this issue we could not allow our principles to be compromised.

As mentioned before, our commitment is to ‘leave only our footprints behind’ when we camp. In the same vein, all effluent from SY Azzura is tertiary treated on board before being discharged (again to high international standards and requiring an additional heavy investment on our side over and above local requirements). In the office, all our paper is re-used and recycled; all envelopes are reused; our napkins are all cotton cloth that can be washed and reused; reusable bags are used for shopping; food scraps and vegetable peels and offcuts from our catering business are composted for reuse in our vegetable garden. Members of our crew also recover all aluminium cans used in all aspects of our business and yearly take them to the recycler in Ghala, keeping the income as an addition to their salaries. This season, we will also recover the titanium ring pulls on the aluminium cans, donating them to Thailand for reuse in the manufacture of prosthetic limbs.

We support the Environment Society of Oman in many ways, in carrying volunteers to the Dimanyat Islands for the annual cleanup campaigns; in donating products and services for auction at their annual fund raising Ball and from hosting our own yearly staff cleanup of the coral reef in Bandar Khairan. We have also provided assistance and feedback on ESO’s whale watching, dolphin watching & turtle monitoring campaigns, reported on shark catches; assisted in research on setting of international standards on dolphin watching; and provided feedback and information on the establishment of permanent buoys at popular diving spots to help reduce damage to coral reefs from boat anchors. It is also our policy to protect the environment in any way we can - for example in Bandar Khairan where the water can be very shallow and it is easy for guests to stand upon the coral reefs (thus damaging them); we do not issue swimming flippers; instead informing our guests of the reason to do so and thus helping to educate them also as to the delicate nature of the reefs.

And we have done all in our power to promote as best we can the land and sea that we love through all the media in our path! From our first appearance on The Luxury Channel to appearances on France’s TV5; Brand Oman’s The New Explorers; the BBC’s promotion of Oman and the Australian online promotion sidetripofalifetime, to hosting countless print media journalists & photographers, fashion shoots and the like. We have consistently made ourselves available for media promotion of Oman to the outside world, totally free of charge every single year. Additionally, we host a minimum of six familiarisation tours of high-profile agents each year on the request of our colleagues at the Chedi or from the local tour agencies. Many of these are provided totally free of charge as part of our commitment to the ongoing promotion of our beautiful country.