Farasan Islands

The Farasan Islands are an archipelago of about 80 islands located about 50 km off the southwest coast of Saudi Arabia. The main island, called Farasan, is one of the largest islands in the Red Sea.
The 1st picture is of a marina near the ferry terminal where local tour boats go out into the archipelago. The 2nd and 3rd pictures are of interesting rock formations taken from one of those tour boats. The 4th picture is another of those formations. On this one, I expected to see Elton John and his piano singing Crocodile Rock!
There are also mangroves growing here. The next 2 pictures are looks at a couple of spots in the mangrove forest. The 7th picture is of one of the larger inhabitants of the mangroves: pelican. Just to the right of the large pelican, hidden by the leaves, is a chick.
The 8th picture is in the Al Qessar heritage village. This is a reconstruction on the site of a village that dates to at least Roman times.
The last 2 pictures are of a couple of the several houses of an important pearl merchant from a bit over 100 years ago. There is no longer an active pearl industry here, but the architecture of the houses is amazing.Read more