Story of a Trailing Spouse: Wonders of Qeshm...1

As Salaam,

Last Tuesday, February 8, we the trailing spouses, had the opportunity to join our hubbies on their first provincial trip since the beginning of the New Year. The destination was Qeshm Island in the southern Hormozgan province of Iran.

The three-day diplomatic tour, which was organised by Iran Tourism Authority (ICHHTO), among others, was aimed at expansion of tourism ties and to provide an opportunity to introduce the province's and particularly the island's tourism and economic potentials.

Qeshm Island is located approximately 1,353 km south of Tehran. The Mahan Air flight from Mehrabad airport took us about an hour and a half and landed at Bandar Abbas, at around 8pm in the evening.

Throughout the visit, we were accommodated at Homa hotel in the provincial capital. Known to most Iranians simply as 'Bandar', it is the country's busiest port. The city was founded by one of Persia's greatest kings, Shah Abbas 1 during the Safavid era.

Our trip to Qeshm Island only began the next day, Wednesday, February 9. It was approximately a forty-minute boat ride away from the capital's Shahid Bahonar port. Interestingly, the modern industrial vessel named 'Yassin 110' that took us to the island was also inaugurated earlier in the day.

With a surface area of about 1,500 square km, the dolphin-shaped island is by far the largest island in the Persian Gulf. It lies in the blue waters of the Persian Gulf near the strategic Strait of Hormoz. Qeshm city is about 22 km from Bandar Abbas. The closest point of the island is only about 1800 meters from the mainland stretching between Loft Island and Pehel village of Khamir port.

The island's population of about 150,000 is not commensurate with its surface area which is approximately three times the size of sovereign states such as Bahrain and Singapore.

We were also told that the island's climate is one of the most pleasant in the world from October through March. The temperature averages from 34 C in July and 19 C in January. However, when we arrived at the island, it was rather a cloudy and rainy day and we could also felt some cool breezes from the surrounding sea. But it was not as bitingly cold as in Tehran though. We were very much beyond our schedule, and could not cover much of the itinerary outlined in our visit program.

The intact nature and beauty of Qeshm really impressed us and indeed any discerning visitors. Eroded mountains of Chahkooh and Star Valleys near Berkeh-Khalaf village, the world's longest salt caves at Namakdan with its unique stalactites and stalagmites, the vast and magnificent Harra (mangrove) forest along the coast, the beautiful Naz Island, the amusing dolphins, and the Hawksbill turtles species of the island...all represent Qeshm as the Seven Wonders Island of the Persian Gulf.

Wassalam.