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It is hazy and in the  80s outside. You can see the wake of ships who passed long ago. I saw a white object floating on the surface that looked like a ping pong ball but about the size of a tennis ball. I wonder?

We went through the Strait of Hormuz in the night and another passenger said there search lights off of the ship all night long.

While we haven’t seen them, there is a large US military presence in this area. I am amazed that people do not remember that.

Interdenominational service

I think it’s interesting that it’s called that and not nondenominational as is more common. Nice service with some songs I knew. My lung volume is not adequate to carry a phrase at this point and my vocal cords are rough with results of asthma and such. What a disappointment

Photo raffle

A guy came up, very confidently put tickets in the box and announced to the rest of us that we just as well leave because he was going to win. And he did: the first prize. A lady who is leaving the ship in Dubai won the second prize which was 10 of the postcards with great shots from the trip.

Trivia

I ran up and was able to help with at least one question. We did better than the adjacent team by two but the winning team had two more points than we did.

The dancer who called it is hilarious with her British and then (long a) American pronunciations of words. So cute.

Lunch

We ordered room service as we were coming into port. Cheeseburger for me; chef salad for Ed.

I can’t say the sail in was dramatic. It was hazy and everything looks the color of sand. The terminal is new and in the local style.

There are 3 large ships on the pier (the two others, one Royal Caribbean, are both much larger than ours)

Immigration

We tapped our fingers until it was our turn. Passport in hand, cruise card at the ready, we checked out of the ship and straight into the terminal where three desks manned by two traditionally clad (how do they keep those things so white?) men. I don’t recall him even looking up at me (I know they wouldn’t look a woman in the eye in the old days…and visa versa). Opens passport, stamps it and I’m off.

Except there’s the ship staff to retrieve my passport.

I feel naked. No passport, no photocopy stamped. Only my cruise card.

So we go back onto the ship: this entails going through metal detector at exit from terminal to ship and then again as we enter the ship. Our gear in hand, we eventually go down to the meeting place for our afternoon tour. The place is packed. I think there were probably 200 shipmates going on this same tour.

ow do they keep those things so white?) men. I don’t recall him even looking up at me (I know they wouldn’t look a woman in the eye in the old days…and visa versa). Opens passport, stamps it and I’m off.

Except there’s the ship staff to retrieve my passport.

I feel naked. No passport, no photocopy stamped. Only my cruise card.

So we go back onto the ship: this entails going through metal detector at exit from terminal to ship and then again as we enter the ship. Our gear in hand, we eventually go down to the meeting place for our afternoon tour. The place is packed. I think there were probably 200 shipmates going on this same tour.

Desert Safari 4 wheel drive

We are herded to our vehicle and meet Bashir Ahmed who is our driver for today. It’s about 4 pm by this time and sunset is after 6. This is important to the experience of the day. There are 6 passengers in this Toyota SUV but that doesn’t describe it well. Very comfortable with AC. Each time we get back into the car we are asked to be sure our seat belt is tightened. This isn’t just a law here. It becomes important later as well.

Bashir was born and raised here in the UAE but he is Pakistani. He is considered an expat even though born here. He will never have citizenship. This is pretty common in these countries where over half of their population are expats who come to work. He has 4 children and has to pay for their education since he is not a citizen.

Getting out of the port

The gate of the port is probably 2 miles from the ship along this reclaimed land. We are asked to hold our cruise card up as we come to the exit. A local port police visually sights all of our cards along with the special permit the driver has, and we are off.

Exiting the city

Dubai is a modern city in almost every respect. The height of the buildings is astonishing and of course the most famous is the Burg Khalifi. You don’t see old vehicles here. Gas is about 50 cents a liter: $2 USD per gallon roughly and it is subsidized.

We wiggle through the traffic and are soon on a superhighway. The highways have buffers of low native shrubs to keep the sand from overtaking the roadway. It is, as you would expect, in excellent condition and a very good ride. No one violates the traffic laws here as they have cameras everywhere and they don’t tolerate violations.

Soon we are diverted to a camel racing track with a camel hospital for them on sight. In the distance we see tents where their caretakers stay with them. They are crossing the road with camel drivers on some here and there, the rest strung along behind with ropes.

Camel racing

A popular sport here held a few days a week. But here’s the funny part: they don’t have riders! They carry robots whose weight mimics a rider and who is controlled by the owner wirelessly. They have a little stick to tap the camel along. We didn’t see it but it sounds like a riot.

We continue along and eventually all of the vehicles from our ship, we estimated about 30, stop and the drivers begin to let air out of the tires. Ordinarily these Dunlap tires hold 35 psi and the pressure is reduced to about 16 psi.

Beginning the real adventure

We enter a desert conservancy site of about 10 miles square. Our trek to the campsite seemed to take us over a hundred.

WHEE!

And we begin our E ticket ride over the dunes. And they don’t just crawl over them: you find yourself hanging onto the hand holds to keep your balance. They warn about folks with neck and back issues (Ed did stabilize his neck and he had brought his cushion).

Disneyland has no ride to match this one. You see other cars ahead pop up and then disappear just as quickly on the top of the dune. We would testify that the side angles were at least 45 degrees and going over and down a dune, it had to be much more. And we aren’t crawling: we’re doing it gonzo style. I was astonished at how good the drivers were (none turned over but the roll bars were as big as my wrist) and how amazing the vehicles were!

And it wasn’t over in 120 seconds either. At the top of each dune, we raced on. There were stops now and then to see the sunset for example and just to stretch and get ready for the next lap as there was no turning back. (big laugh here).

One lady tried to slide down the dune but this isn’t snow! I gained a very great admiration for the camels who traverse this sand. It is more like powdered confectioner’s sugar feel, dirt, not sand as you think of on the beach. I dug my toes in going up and my heels going down.

Local wildlife

This is a conservancy and so some of the wildlife is visual occasionally including a delicate antelope: I didn’t catch it’s name.

We saw braced trees here and there being fed with drip lines. This is part of their plan to create this place to the design. But clearly there is water some distance down as there were large trees here and there which indicates the availability of water if you dig (though I never got the distance). There is a shortage of water overall and Dubai is the Queen of desalination.

Wind

The wind was wonderful but he had sand everywhere. My mouth still has grit never mind the other orifices. The temperatures were in the high 80s but this temperature with those winds, made it absolutely wonderful.

Sandshapes: you walk in the sand and your impression is there but almost before your eyes, the sharp edges smooth and soon the dune is nothing more than waves that look like horizontal rivulets on the surface. I’m sure the sands change shape daily.

At one stop, the drivers took out small rugs and we saw them saying their prayers under an adjacent bush behind all of us. No big deal: just doing their duty.

In Asia and beyond, we are called “Sir” and “Madame”. Our waiter said he’s poor at names and so this is easier. But it often feels very odd.

After a long while, we reach a campsite. There are camels we can see and thanks to Ed’s quick feet, we were early in line before many others figured out the routine.

Camel ride

Ed did it this time. These beasts are never ending amusement for me. All had little crocheted nose bags on I suppose to keep them from spitting. Ed mounted in back with me in front. The locals are all in their pristine white robes and scarves (no kefair—spelled wrong: all white here).

You are told to lay back as the camel raises it’s hips first and you’ll fall off if you don’t. The saddles were terribly uncomfortable and you have a small rigid circle of hard rope to cling to. The when the camel raises it’s front legs, you are forward leaning but this one is easier.

And off we go. I don’t recall my previous camel rides being this hard to stay upright. Perhaps I had stirrups before but certainly the saddles were much more accommodating and I was riding alone. People who ride camels a lot certainly have my admiration. I was glad to get off. The instructions when the camel goes down again are also explicit and were it not for that nice Arab man who didn’t mind catching my shoulder as we went down, I would have wound up face first in the sand. He took a few very good photos of us on the camel with our camera: clearly he was knowledgeable about how to use it. At the end, all they expected was a tip. Delightful.

Henna

Next stop: getting a henna design on my hand. This small lady (there were several in the tent) was scrunched up and had a pad to sit on before her (more about the pads later). She had a small device that looked like an icing bag with a small tip. She was quick, sure, and created this amazing design. I don’t know what I expected but when she told me in clear English to keep it straight until it dried, I was surprised. Ed got a few shots. This experience was included in the cost of the trip as was the apple tobacco hooka and having your photo taken in native dress (there was a small charge for this).

Arabian coffee was also offered. Ed declined.

Alcohol

This surprised me. Red and White wine were available. You can drink in private venues here but I’m sure the men serving it were not Muslim.

There were several large areas to sit and eventually we found some long tables with pads about the size of a pillow on your bed. The tables were only about 1 ½ ft off the carpet which was of course on top of the sand.

These pads were not comfortable at all. I wondered what was in them as they were very heavy and it didn’t seem to be reeds or animal hair. It is frankly dark by now and the camp has areas with large carpets over the sand and low lights on stands here and there.

Toilets

I wasn’t sure what to expect but nature calls. Wow! Clean, Western toilets, sinks, ran out of soap, and paper to dry your hands. The area around it is sequestered by tall reed fences.

Dinner

Ed went for the appetizers. By this time I can see nothing and need to stay put. Across the table from us was a young man from Kenya who does business in Dubai and two young ladies from Malaysia. Along the way, several other caravans have met up with us and there are probably 500 people in this camp by now. The food smells wonderful; they called it a BBQ.

I can’t tell you what I ate but it was good. There was meat, rice, vegetables, delicious dan like breads. A wonderful experience but it was dark and I have no idea what I ate. Definitely no pork I’d bet.

Belly dancer

Eventually they lit up this large area in the middle fully carpeted with these gorgeous red carpets. The belly dancer emerged from the dark in a red diaphanous skirt low on her hips and long dark hair with a red bra top and bling decorating both. (We found out later she is from Brazil). She was very good and had a figure to die for: slim, flat belly (usually not the norm for belly dancers), elegant and tall. She did a sword dance that was impressive (yes, the blades are sharp), and balanced a cane at her waist while she continued to shimmy and shake.

And then it was all over. And we had to find our vehicle among the thousands. Ok not thousands but they all looked alike and we had been depending on the light blue color of ours (the only one to help us). Forget that: it was pitch dark. Eventually after bleeting out Bashir’s name repeatedly, another driver took pity and guided us to our car where we were the last ones.

One other man had done the camel ride; his wife passed (too bad). I’m the only one with henna too. Moment

Exiting is less Rambo on the sand highway with few whee moments. Eventually all the vehicles line up in about 10 lines for the air pumps to reinflate the tires to their proper pressure.

And we are off to the familiar freeways. We pass the sky diving place (not a clue). Bashir hasn’t done it. Past the “international modern hospital”, past the skyscrapers. BUT along the way, another car of our caravan is on the side of the road. So we stop and Bashir helps the other driver change his tire and we are off again. Some in our car groused mildly as it was almost 10 pm by now, they had to say goodbye to folks leaving tomorrow and they had a 7:30 am tour to Abu Dhabi. But we all understood why this was the right thing for Bashir to do.

Back to port

Bashir lit up the interior of the car and we all hoisted our cruise cards and he his permit, and the guard waved us on. We were quickly by the terminal and out.

Internet

It had been down earlier in the day so we had our cell phones and called Lisa. We’ll go back tomorrow to catch up we hope and then go on tomorrow’s adventure.