6 - 8 June

Wednesday 6 June 0700  Persian Gulf

We have travelled 8184.8Nm   from Sydney and we have to travel 44.1 Nm to our next Port of Dubai.  Heading 239.2 Temperature on desk is 28.6 degrees.  Speeding 17.5 knots.  Wind speed 23.3 knots across the deck.

The sea is warmer than the air now and the ship has been surrounded by a mist for a few days now.  It is a weird sensation and vision is only a few metres.

Dubai – Saudi Arabia                Currency – Emirati dirham

We arrived in the Port of Dubai a little late and eventually walked down the gangplank just over 1 hour late.  Sand, sand and more sand surrounds the wharf area.  I was on a specially arranged tour organised by Pat who is one of the passengers.  We boarded our bus and were prepared to see a day of Guinness Book of record winners.  We drove into the modern area of Dubai.  The changes happening in Dubai is amazing it seems to be constantly knocking down and rebuilding buildings and each one seems to be higher and higher.  They hold the record for the highest building in the world, the biggest shopping mall, all in all they currently hold 13 Guinness book of records.

Our first stop was to visit the Jumeirah Mosque, unfortunately we were not allowed to go inside and could only walk around it.  I am always impressed with the architecture of the Mosques.  It seems that there are mosques every 500 metres.  Wealth was everywhere, palaces, lovely houses and big cars.  The weather is hot and even the bus stops are air-conditioned.

Oh no, my camera battery is flat.  It is my new camera and the first time I have used it preferring to take my old one as I know how to use it.  It seems my new camera has a GPS in it and it uses up heaps of battery to keep up to date.  I will have to try to get a copy of Ann’s camera.

We then went on to visit the ski slopes and to watch the children playing in the snow.  Yes, a snow field in the middle of the shopping centre, half of the shopping centre is fully enclosed and there is a ski lift, looze and a huge area for children to play in and it even snows.  It only costs $50 for 2 hours skiing which includes hire of clothing, equipment.  Customers can sit in the shopping centre against a snow covered backdrop, sitting next to an imitation roaring fire.

We had lunch in the shopping centre as we had gone 2 hour without eating.  Most of the passengers raced towards KFC and McDonalds, I tried some of the local dishes and was pleasantly surprised.  I am still waiting to find some curries and hot spicy dishes.

Our next destination was reached via a small trip across a river by way of a small boat called an Abra.  We were now in the old part of the city and entering the spice and gold souk (markets).  Saffron was available for buying and it was beautiful, there was many other wonderful spices and of course smells.  Bright shiny gold,  the brassy gold colour, a whole block of it, rings, bracelets, necklaces and watches.  We were given 10 minutes to look around which of course was not long enough; we were soon walking back to the bus and on to the next stop.   A bus load of frustrated shoppers!!!

Dubai Museum was next on the list.  Am I sick of museums yet?  No, everyone is so different.  This museum was housed in a restored fort that was built in 1799 to defend against invasion, that fort has been used as a palace and a prison.  Whilst I was in there I had my arm painted with henna.  I really enjoyed seeing the old antiquities.

We had to be at the biggest shopping centre in the world by 5pm as we were going up to the top of the highest building in the world.  I wasn’t going to do this as it combines two of my biggest fears, heights and close spaces.  Yes, I did it.  The security was very apparent and we eventually got into the lift and when the door closed we started moving upwards.  It wasn’t as bad as I thought, there was little movement and we flew up 124 levels in about 30 seconds. OMG.  There were still about 20 floors above us when we got out at the observation deck.  Fantastic view of Dubai, although it was still misty.  The trip down was even worse but thankfully, over in a few seconds.

It was now 6.30pm and we went outside of the shopping centre to watch the water display which is on every 30 minutes.  Fantastic.  It was amazing, water jets over 60 metres in the air, colours and all this to music.

We then went back home to the ship.  Everyone was tired as we had been racing around over 8 hours and the heat was knocking around most of the passengers.  I am enjoying the heat.

In Dubai, the dress of the people has become very Arabian.  All the men are wearing the long white robes with either the cap or the Arafat.  The women are all in flowing black gowns with just their heads covered or just their eyes visible.  We asked why the women wore black and we were told that the women did dirty work and the black didn’t show up the dirt as much.  The material is very soft and flowing and supposedly it keeps them cool.  The men originally wore a bone coloured gown which blended in with the camels, they have since moved to white.  There are a number of young men in western clothing but not a lot of girls.

Women are not allowed to drive although we did see a few.

The ship celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee today with a beautiful cake and the wearing of the red, white and blue.

I had a late dinner and then off to bed.   

Thursday 7 June 0700  Arabian Sea We have travelled 132.8 Nm   from Dubai and we have to travel 816 Nm to our next Port of Salalah.  Heading 150.5 Temperature on desk is 28.7 degrees.  Speeding 18.9 knots.  Wind speed 19.3 knots across the deck.

It was quite strange walking into breakfast as there were new faces everywhere.  Over the 3 weeks people had become quite friendly, smiling and joking and suddenly some people just glared back and they seemed to be getting lost.  I am sure we were not like that when we first came aboard.

 I met up with Jules and Wavne at the ‘meet and greet’ of the Cool Cruisers.  Jules is the WA International Commissioner and I had met him when I was in WA.  I met Jules and Wavne again when they came to Siem Reap last year.  They are travelling to Dover to see the Olympic Games and then on to Edinburgh for the Tattoo.

Friday 8 June 0700  Arabian Sea We have travelled 5849 Nm   from Dubai and we have to travel 400.5 Nm to our next Port of Salalah.  Heading 214.9 Temperature on desk is 27.6 degrees.  Speeding 18.9 knots.  Wind speed 27.5 knots across the deck.