Fujeirah

The UAE has seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, Ras al Khaimah, Ajman, Um Al Quwain, and Fujeirah. We've been in the first four long enough to go for runs, spot flamingos, camp, and scope beaches. We've hardly touched the last three. Especially Fujeirah, the pink region on the map below.

This is a serious omission. On the east coast of the Arabian peninsula, just below lovely Musandam, Fujeirah has an entirely different look and feel: coastal mountains gathered next to sandy beaches, tremendous snorkeling (or, in our case, diving with goggles), and a whole new gulf to swim in. 

The drive there from Abu Dhabi sent us up past Dubai, through the rather scrubby interior....

....until dunes begin in earnest.  

And then, as if the terrain couldn't get any stranger, the mountains set in. 

Then it was over the mountains and a quick swoop down to the coast, where we stopped at a tiny Indian restaurant.

"No menu, just biryani," the proprietor explained enthusiastically. Two deep-fried fish later, we wandered out to meet the Gulf of Oman. 

We made it up the coast nearly to Dibba, where we stopped at Snoopy Island, named for its uncanny resemblance to Snoopy asleep on top of his dog house.

 

And that's where we spent the night. On the beach, with an Emirati family camping nextdoor.  

But first, we played some frisbee, swam in our front yard....

....and watched the sun set.

 

 The next day, we swam out to the coral reef near Snoopy Island, where we saw fish that could only be described as tie-died, sea slugs, urchins, anenomes, and all kinds of coral. We lay on the beach afterwards, listening to the German, Russian, and dubious English of the various vacationers. And then started back by a different route. 

A fearless expedition to Lulu Island

After nine months of yammering about buying a kayak, we took the plunge, with a used inflatable kayak on Dubizzle (the Craigslist of the middle east, minus the racier sections).  We can't wait to explore all of the mangroves, inlets, and islands suggested by terrific sites like this one.  But we wanted something less ambitious to start with. 

And so we set out for Lulu. Lulu island is a long man-made piece of land directly across from Abu Dhabi's downtown, and is only accessible by boat.  For a few years, there were restaurants and talk of serious development (not a unique story).  But now it lies empty, with big red dunes and rows of palm trees.  

The set-up took a bit longer than expected...

...but eventually we figured things out.

Margaret is ready to launch, and hoping that the thousands of little fish don't nibble her toes before safely in the boat.

After a half hour of rowing (and looking neurotically every time we heard a motor boat) we made it to our destination.

We discovered some creatures hiding under rocks.

And made it back in time for a dip in the gulf!

My, she was Yas

Yas (Arabic for "wow") Island is a man-made island about halfway between the Corniche on Abu Dhabi Island, where we live / work, and the airport.  Until this weekend we haven't spend much time there -- one of the first weeks here we drove through and made a quick stop into Ace Hardware to check out the bookstore / cafe (yes, THAT Ace Hardware, and yes, it was misguided).

This weekend, we allowed Yas to try and live up to the name.  Yas is best known for its Formula One racetrack -- in fact, the race was last week, when we were safely out of the country.  This week it hosted an event we were more interested in: the Abu Dhabi Striders Half Marathon.

The race was Friday morning, and by coincidence we had a friend who was hosting a barbeque on northern part of the island on Thursday night.  Most of the people at the barbeque work for the American Embassy, and have done stints all over the world.  For now, we are all in Abu Dhabi, and had a great time grilling and chatting on the pitch-black beach...because Yas island is so empty, the sky was full of stars!

The half marathon is the biggest running event of the year in Abu Dhabi.  This year Yas Waterworld played host, and we were able to hit most of the highlights of the island during the race.  Ferrari World (the red blob on the map) is the world's largest indoor theme park, and it certainly felt like it took a long time to run around.  We also ran by the Yas Viceroy, on a road that crosses over the F1 track.

 

At the finish, we reunited with some friends from the Striders and headed into the park.  There was a fabulous post-race buffet (!) breakfast and we had free entry for the day.  Yas Waterworld is home to the world's largest slide-within-a-slide (check out this recent article for some more interesting UAE world records).  Neither of us is a big theme park aficionado, but we did try out one somewhat horrifying slide, and otherwise sought out the family friendly rides (drifting around in an inner tube, etc).  Around 11 am when we left, we walked by a jaw-droppingly long line to enter the park; it must be longer in the summer!  Afterwards, it was back to Ace Hardware with a long list to get our apartment fully set up -- this time the shopping trip was more successful.

Our empty nest

It has been over a MONTH of living in a hotel. And though the hotel is dignified and such - it has a very grand lobby, and looks kind of like an MC Escher print from the elevator....

....we are so excited to move to our new house, a block away.

Which house, you ask? We are living in one of the blue towers on the right hand side. Doesn't look like a house, does it? It is a bit funny looking, we admit. At least one of our parents thinks that the architecture is absolutely hideous. But it has a Waitrose (yes, the Waitrose that gave us our groceries on trust) and ... a lot of jewelry stores. And we like it.

It is near our favorite camel burger joint....

....and across the street from the Corniche and our windsurfing/paddle board rental spot....

...and best of all, it has room for visitors, which isn't true of our current abode. Here is the guest room. It is the most furnished room in the whole house (the process of said furnishing was an epic cross-city adventure from which we are still recovering).



And here is where your breakfast gets cooked. No windows, but there is a washer-dryer and an ice maker - all the better to make smoothies!

 Based on our current habits, this is what you will get.



And this is our study/yoga room/mini-library. That's Coconut Island behind the two buildings.



And here is the bedroom. We haven't figured out how to cover the extremely creepy window from bathroom to bedroom (not pictured), but there's time....



And this is the future room of ping pong, movies, reading, and lounging of all kinds. Nick is happy because he can see Coconut Island from here. And I am happy because I can see the Emirates Palace helicopter pad. To each his own. We can also see a football field (not the American variety - poor Nick), the real palace (where the Sheikh lives), and Marina Mall.



We can't wait to settle down, play some ping pong, and get some bikes to hang on the wall like trophies. Nick's sister Katie has got us dreaming of indoor hammocks....and Margaret is contemplating electrical DIY projects to spoof the local chandeliers and testify to the glory of the mason jar....but those things may wait a while. In the meantime, come play!

Coconut Island Kayak

Nick has a crush on an island. It is a little, almost uninhabited island that was dredged from the Gulf. (This is a frequent practice here - Bahrain has expanded by 10% via dredging - and an environmental problem, as it's bad for the corals in the Gulf, which have been shrinking drastically in the last few decades). 

Almost uninhabited. There is one mansion there, amid the undeveloped sand.

The island was supposed to be a luxury resort, we learned via "the Google." But the Internets haven't quite kept up to speed on why the luxury resort hasn't happened yet. What we have found are articles from 2008, 2009, and 2010 that gleefully proclaim the island's completion by 2010. We also found claims that the island is "rightfully named so because it has many coconut palms." False. 

And there is no Ritz Carlton Luxury Hotel, and no discernible labor is going on. So the poor man on the island must be very lonely. This is his view:

And this is his rubble-strewn beach. Yes, we kayaked there, despite our fears that a man living alone on an island in Abu Dhabi might be a little xenophobic, and possibly well-armed. We didn't land on his dock, at least. 

If you come to Abu Dhabi, we probably will not take you to Coconut Island. But we will take you where we ate afterwards - the Lebanese Flower, where banana smoothies are to die for, and the falafel sandwich costs a little more than a dollar.