Our voyage in Ibra took us first to Banda Khiran an isolated spot that offers a good safe anchorage inside a sheltered bay. Once inside this sheltered waterway opens up to reveal a plethora of beaches on which to set up water sports or enjoy a BBQ. Because this area is so difficult to access by road, Bandar Khiran remains a haven of peace and quite and is the perfect superyacht hideaway, a fact not missed by the 44 metre Wellesand.
Wellesand began life as a steam ship in 1951. Built as Nickel she was an ore carrier before being retired in the 1975 and converted into a survey ship working on the river at Bremerhaven. At that time she was renamed Wittesand having been fitted with a single diesel MWM 6 cylinder 440kW engine, three rudders and a massive bow thruster.
Purchased by a small ship aficionado from Egypt some twenty five years later she made her way to that country for conversion into a luxury boat of some 273 tons gross. We shy away from calling her a yacht because having interviewed her owner for a feature we are writing, he tells us he abhors the word yacht as a description for his craft.
After conversion in 2007 she became Wellesland and travelled to Oman where her owner who is involved in the developing of marinas around the world.
In Oman she acts as both his home and office when he is on site.