Daytrip to Farasan Island

Getting to Farasan

Having retired around 1900 and with 5h difference with Malaysian time in my body clock, I woke at 0100.  I managed to doze till the alarm at 0400.

We had been advised verbally to have the car join the ferry queue at 0430 (but officially 0530 report time on the ticket) for the 0700 departure.  There wasn’t much of a queue at 0430 so we went in search for petrol briefly before returning at 0445.

The line started moving at 0500.  The signage for the queues (ticketed vs standby) didn’t make sense to me but fortunately it was very clear to E, who had lived in India and the Gulf.  Indian-style English, he said.

He took the car through for security x-ray checks and loading onto the ferry while I went through the terminal as a foot passenger.

The ferry was large, with 21 seats across, and very wide aisles.  There were separate women-only and family sections.  We departed at 0700 for the 1h30 min ride to Farasan.

Exploring Farasan Island

We drove off the ferry at 0900 and headed to the island’s main township where various buildings were interest were located.  It was about 15 mins away.

Disappointingly, the mosque was under restoration.  We were allowed a peek into the area but no photos were permitted even of the external works.  I thought the intricate plaster works were beautiful but that was before I saw the subsequent sights.

A short distance away by car, we found the Houses of Al-Riffai.  There, we visited a number of houses owned the well-to-do, involved in pearl trading.  I was surprised that they were built around 1922, because they seemed to have been abandoned and dilapidated, apart from their highly-restored facades.

We spent about an hour in the area.  We had chatted with a couple of old Saudi men when one of men pointed to my chest and said “Why so big?”.  The last time I heard something similar was in Egypt, 28 years ago when a boy pointed to my partner’s chest and said “Why you like woman on top?”.

Around 1030, we drove to the old Ottoman Fort, Qala’at Al Atrak.  It wasn’t spectacular and was fenced up.

Text continues after this gallery.

We continued to the North Farasan Beach Park or Hesais Beach slightly to the west.  At around 1100, the tide was out and we had to walk a long way through the sand to try get deeper.  We gave up and just sat with water chest-high and tried floating on our back a little.

With only one family in the distance, I took my shirt off and wore gym shorts.  E was a bit more brazen and had speedos on.  I think the requirement in Saudi is for short and shirts.

After an hour, we headed to the good shower facilities for a wash.  We didn’t have much time left till the verbally-advised 1300 queueing time (1400 report time on ticket) for the 1500 departure.

Text continues after this gallery.

Back to Jizan

Unfortunately, the ferry departed 40 mins time.  We were both hungry, not having eaten a meal on the island nor had breakfast.  We had only snacked on granola bars and nuts, purchased from the supermarket yesterday.

We hit the road back on Jizan at 1715 and headed to last night’s Indian restaurant for a feast.  We over-ordered and took back some leftovers for breakfast.

Conclusion on Farasan Daytrip

Farasan had been a great start to our Saudi trip.  The island would have been difficult, if not impossible, without taking the car along.  The government clearly has big aspirations for Farasan with very good roads already built but not much yet in terms of resorts.

It was a long day 13h day, from 0400 wake-up to 1715 disembarkation back in Jizan.

While we had 6h30 on Farasan, it was only 4h of exploration once if one deducts 30 mins for disembarkation and 2h for pre-departure formalities for the return.

We probably could have spent 4h30 or nearly 5h exploring, if we had better knowledge in advance.