Sharky and Georgie… In Dubai mall
Our last full day in the glitzy Dubai saw us up at a reasonable time to enjoy a lovely galley cooked breakfast of bacon sandwiches out on the back of the boat under the already scorching sun. With most of the day free of plans we sat around the table trying to hatch a plan… After several coffee’s later we ended up on a visit to the newly opened Dubai Mall, having heard about its sheer size and of course the massive shark infested aquarium.
The mall itself is as usual in Dubai, massive, flashy and over the top, unfortunately not all of the shops were open yet but we took a walk around anyway. Inside the main doors there was a Porsche display with a really nice old Porsch and a few new ones which drew our attention for a while, then after some head scratching and map reading we were off in the direction of some wedding dress shops, obviously via the aquarium. And what an aquarium it is… Its by far the biggest I have ever seen and its brimming with all sorts of massive schools of fish and sharks, while we were there they were doing a spot of maintenance on the bottom of it and while one diver was working away a second was hovering above him with a large wooden bat! I assume to beat any hungry sharks back with, there is a job I definitely would not want! We stood and gawped for quite a while but it was hard not to because its as if your staring out into the sea itself, it is that huge.
The mall itself is a maze and when its done it will be just as impressive as the aquarium and any other madcap super-sized thing in Dubai but at the moment and despite a fully functioning full sized ice rink it was all a bit empty and felt as if we were there after it had closed… Not to be put off Jo and Mandy decided to haul us along to the Mall of the Emirates, a mall which was very much open and not to be out done, has inside a fully functioning ski slope… Complete with snow, chair lifts and log cabins. A lot has to be said of a country that, although essentially is in the dessert, has its own snow covered slopes and slices of sea inside shopping malls, I’m not sure exactly what is to be said but maybe that’s the point… If I could, I would and maybe Dubai is just full of people who can, and will!
We did have plans for the afternoon which were thus… Go back to the boat and meet up with Richard, the boys and Dee’s family for an afternoon out on the salty seas, so after a bite to eat and a wander around the super shops we headed back down to marina and back aboard good old Charlie. Not long behind us were Richard and friends and soon enough we were once again chugging out of the marina and into open water. Jo was following behind on Richards smaller speed boat called Gaeil Force and this nippy little beast was the one that was going to tow us all behind as we had a go at water-skiing!
We dropped anchor just outside the marina and not quite in the open sea, where the water was good and calm, Keiron strapped himself up and off they went. The little fella was amazing, He was up first time and zipping along behind the speedboat off into the distance like a pro. Georgie and I launched ourselves off the side of Charlie while the boys were off skiing and yet again it washed over us just how good it feels to be around warm seas and blue skies, knowing it would be some time before we could enjoy it again we splashed about for as long as we could… Which turned out to be until a coastguard boat came over and told us to move, apparently we weren’t allowed to drop anchor there or something so we hauled it up and headed back into the marina for the last time.
The afternoon was drawing on by this point, Richard and family had places to go and people to see so they said their goodbyes and made tracks and left Jo, Mandy, Georgie and I to our own devices… A little time just relaxing aboard Charlie as the sun set behind the high rise towers surrounding the strangely peaceful marina before making a short walk around it to the Buddha bar at the Grosvenor House Hotel, walking is not the done thing in Dubai, in fact its actually very difficult to navigate on foot, pedestrians in Dubai are as out of place as pigs in the sky. But we conquered the short walk and made it there alive despite the very real risk of sudden and instant death by a speeding sports car or Range Rover. The Buddha Bar didn’t actual open for half an hour so we had a few cocktails in the Grosvenor Hotel before heading down.
The Buddha Bar itself was a lovely dark and lavish place bustling with people and cigarette smoke (beautiful) and at the back was a huge golden Buddha statue watching over everything, we had a few drinks and damn good evening actually before making the walk back down to the marina, a short pit stop an a “all American” burger bar for some take away and then sat aboard Charlie scoffing our whoppers. A night cap to wash them down and then to bed because this time tomorrow we would all be back home in good old England…
The next morning we had a spot of breakfast aboard the boat, said goodbye to Richard who popped down and packed our bags up for the last time… Well, until next time. We were at the airport in good time to give duty free a good seeing to and lets not forget the priority lounge (Thank you Jo and Mandy) and then off we went into the sunset.
