There is a moment, cresting the Hajjar mountains on the highway from Dubai to Fujairah, that fairly knocks you back. You have driven through the desert, climbed through the dramatic rock formations, and then all of a sudden there it is: the Gulf of Oman stretching away to the horizon, deep azure but with whitecap waves hinting at the turbulent Indian Ocean beyond. It is very different from the pristine white sands and turquoise ripples you left a couple of hours ago in Jumeirah.