Fun Weekend in the Sun

Sunrise over Reem Island

Speeding out to sea!

Sunrise over Saadiyat Bridge

My "fishing pole"

She'll catch 'em and hold 'em, but she will NOT eat them!

Cruising back to port

The group on a 75' catamaran trip

On the bow looking at Abu Dhabi West

We got dolphins!

Maggie, Karen, Mary, Jim and Gail

What can I say about this?  Perfect day!

Captain Berend put me to work

It's a pirate life for me!

Heading back to port

See you tomorrow Mr. Sunshine

The fishing trip was a little lame.  The pictures in the brochure show a guy on a beautiful fishing boat with his fishing pole bent in half, pulling in a lunker.  About the only thing on our trip that resembled it was the fact that we were on a boat.  A smelly, dirty boat that didn't fill me with confidence.  Our "fishing poles" were plastic spools, and we were actually hand fishing for critters that would barely fill a pan.

Our guide Muhammed spoke very little English, but was friendly enough.  He was the only one to get seasick also!  I thought that was strange.  Naturally, I got skunked, but right next to me he was bringing in fish one after another.  Something about the hand fishing I'm sure.

The day wasn't a total bust.   Gail brought in two fish, and we were out on the water on a beautiful sunny day.

The next day more than made up for it though!  Gail had bought a Dow Boat trip on-line that we had been trying to coordinate with friends for some time.  Gail talked to the captain and he explained that it would be tough to fit our schedule on the Dow Cruise, but we could go out on his catamaran if we were ok with that.

More than ok, I was stoked!  We boarded at the Emirates Palace Marina, very exclusive, after a golf cart ride to the boat....I mean all the way to the boat.  Down the gangway, down the floating pier, right to our floating party.  They had snacks, and enough champagne and beer for 50 people, but there was only about 15 adults on the boat.

As we cruised out of the marina, a pod of dolphins started breaching on our bow.  Very kewl!  We cruised around Marina Mall Island and into the Corniche.  The Volvo Ocean race is in town, so we putted by Destination Village to get a look at the boats that were all out of the water being worked on.  The Captain asked for volunteers to help with the sails, so naturally I jumped in.

After lazily sailing back and forth on the Corniche a couple times we were heading out to a little island for a dip, but as we got to the opening in the seawall we were held up by the Coast Guard due to Dow Boat races right outside the harbor.  The boats were beautiful with all the sails up.

When we were given the green light to leave Captain Berend told me to take the helm, which I'd been hoping to do for some time at this point.  I pointed the boat out of the harbor and inside the protective breakwater for LuLu Island.  We anchored 100 yards off shore and some of us jumped into the chilly water and swam to shore.  It was a refreshing dip.

Once everyone was back on-board we headed into the sunset and ended another perfect day.  The Captain and I got to talking on the way back and he asked if I was available to crew for him on the weekends.  We talked this week, and while he doesn't need help, he did extend a special price to me to go out again this weekend for the re-start of the Volvo Ocean Race!  Gail, Kayleigh and I will be cruising the gulf Saturday...but that's another blog.

Christmas and New Years

The camp site

Looking for dinner

How cool is this?!

Sunrise over the Indian Ocean

Barracuda

Flamingo's

Wadi Bashing to the waterfall

Snorkeling in the Indian Ocean

Snoopy Rock

Gail and I got a great opportunity to go camping with friends over New Years.  Our friends drove us about 3 hours East to the Emirate of Fujeirah.  We got a late start, but eventually made it to a spit of land that separates the Gulf of Oman from the back waters and the forests of mangroves.  I had said in other posts that we were on the Indian Ocean, which is what we were told, but that isn't 100% correct.

We got there just in time to get camp set up, get the fire going and start dinner.  We crawled in the tent before too late and woke to a beautiful sunrise over the ocean.

New Year's Eve, our one full day was pretty action packed.  We piled into two cars and headed north to find the only continuous running waterfall in the UAE.  We had to four wheel 2.9 k through a Wadi to get there.

Wadi (Arabic: وادي‎ wādī; also: Vadi) is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some cases, it may refer to a dry (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream.

The waterfall itself was unimpressive.  The rocks were all tagged with spray painted with messages, most spelled incorrectly.  Visitors don't seem to have a problem leaving their garbage lying around, thinking that if magically disappears.  The guide book warned us not to swim in the pool of water at the bottom of the falls due to parasites in the water....yum.  It looked somewhat inviting, but I heeded their warning. 

Next we went further north to a little beach area.  Some of the group played at the free beach, while the rest of us paid the 75 dirhams to use the facilities at Sandy Beach Hotel.  What a cool little place.  I want to go for a few nights and chill there.

Snoopy rock is directly out from the hotel, and if there is water, you know where you'll find me.  Gail, Karen and I rented gear and snorkeled out to the rock.  The visibility wasn't great, but I can see where it would be a great snorkel experience.  After drying off we went up to the open air pub that looked out over the water, and had some lunch and a couple cool ones to celebrate the day.

We got a late start back to the camp site, and made it back just before dark.  Dinner and too much wine followed.  Gail, Dan, Karen and I decided to hike over to the ocean side in the dark.  The crashing waves were creating an incredible light show as the phosphorus lit up all up and down the beach.  We sat in the sand and enjoyed for awhile and the show eventually started fading away.

We enjoyed the warm fire as the temperature started going down, and only made it until 10:30 before hitting the rack.  We both slept like babies!

Next day four of the group took off kayaking through the mangroves and the rest of us hung out and started packing up camp.  The kayakers got stuck due to the tide and we had to drive down to where they beached the boats and pull them up. Upon leaving our camping spot, we are greeted by a herd of free roaming camels out for a little walk and snack. Unbelievable........

During the long trek back, Dan and Karen mentioned a good Mexican place, so we met them for a very good dinner and then hauled our sleepy butts back to the apt for a good night sleep, and the beginning of the New Year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!