Beach Club

One of the nice things about living here is that during the months of good weather we can enjoy the weekends. We never have to think about what the weather will be like, we know what it will be like! As reported, we do get one or two days of bad weather, but mostly it’s bright and sunny.

If you want to enjoy some time on a beach in Abu Dhabi you have two options.

1. Go to a public beach
2. Join a beach / Health Club

There are really only two public beaches in Abu Dhabi. The first is called Ras al Akhdar and is to be found round the back of the Emirates Palace. It sounds very nice, but really there are no amenities here, but despite this it does get busy at the weekends. There is a bus route that takes you there and access to the beach is free. This beach will shortly disappear as the whole area is being redeveloped as the new Presidential Palace.

The second is the public beach on The Corniche (the City Sea Front). Actually, it’s a very nice beach which has recently been redeveloped. The sand is nice, the calm breakwater is great for swimming in and there are plenty of food outlets/toilets/changing areas etc. There is a free area in the central part, which also has volleyball and football pitches laid out for public use, and paid areas for females and families.

The Corniche Beach being redeveloped last year


Andrew Henderson / The National


You can pay to go into the family section (as long as you are not a male on your ow​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​n​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​) - I’m trying to recall but I think it is about 12Dhs (2 quid). You can also pay extra to have use of some rather nice sunbeds and umbrellas - c.30dhs (£5). You can even pay extra to have a sun bed on the “front row” by the waterside. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The beach sunbeds and umbrellas





So, now to the second option - a health/beach club. These are mainly within the hotels. Many of them are accessible to non-members on a day rate, others are either not available to non-members at all or only mid-week. Some of the prices are as follows:-

• Beach Rotana - 150 Dhs (£25)
• Intercontinental - 115 Dhs (£19)
• Le Meridien - 195 Dhs (£32)
• Hilton - 160 (£27)
• Sheraton - c.180 Dhs (£30)

As you can see, these are pretty steep - also bearing in mind that The Hilton is really the only one that has a nice view with no cranes or construction noise. Unless you live close by one of these, you may as well drive to the public beach if you are going to be an occasional user.

We have a membership at The Sheraton, for a few reasons. First, as a member of staff at The Corniche Hospital, Caz gets a 30% discount. It’s still expensive, but with the discount it isn’t extortionate. Second, we can walk to the Sheraton in 10 minutes. Third, I can also carry out my new year resolution of going to the gym (which is included). Since the new year I have been going in the mornings midweek, when I am not going to Dubai, so 3-4 times a week. So at least we get reasonable usage from it. Although our visits to the beach will reduce when the really hot weather comes. They do however have an indoor spa with sauna, jacuzzi, steam room etc, so maybe we will chill there for a while instead.



The beach front at The Sheraton





The Pool Area





The Gym

Trip to Jebel Dhanna

We just had a very relaxing, peaceful weekend at the Jebel Dhanna Resort Hotel. It took us about 2.5 hours driving time from our villa to get there - it's about 250KM west of Abu Dhabi. The outside of the hotel is like a lot of Arabic hotels - it looks quite plain, but inside it is quite plush and spotlessly clean. The hotel was pretty empty and the staff were falling over you to be helpful. The rooms were very nice, but really like a typical business hotel in style. The service was faultless really. Apart from 2 or 3 other couples it seemed like the hotel was mainly occupied by various expats from the oil & gas industry (well I am assuming this - I don't really think there is much other industry around). The beach was empty which made it lovely and quite - just what we needed. Caz did get rather burnt though! The umbrellas have call buttons on them for the waiters - perfect! (for lazy gits like me anyway). You used to be able to take day trips form this resort to the island of Sir Bani Yas, but this isn't possible now as you can only visit if you are staying on the island resort (which you can now fly to from Abu Dhabi).

One night in the bar we saw this oldish arab man come in looking a bit agitated, his hands shaking (we thought maybe he had Parkinson's or something), but he went up to the bar ordered a double vodka and downed it in one! He then straight after ordered a beer and then necked that! A younger guy (maybe his son) came in a tried to persuade him to leave. They walked off towards the exit but a few minutes later he came back ordered another drink and downed it. His wife then arrived and the three of them sat down. He ordered another beer. Necked it down. He went to the bar and had another vodka! Then the younger guy managed to get him out to the car! He must have downed 6-7 drinks in about as many minutes! I'm sure he will be struggling to get up to morning prayers at the mosque this! Was bizarre to watch.




We were there for our 5th wedding anniversary. The flowers I had ordered duly arrived in the room which was good. 5 years seems to have flown by! There is no way 5 years ago we would have thought we'd now be in Abu Dhabi! Here's a reminder of the day!





On the way home we couldn't avoid some bad driving - it wouldn't be the UAE without it! First, in the middle of nowhere an oil tanker had overturned - no idea how!










Then on the way back we stopped at an ADNOC petrol station and as we sat eating our bought garage crap we saw a 4x4 leaving with a trailer carrying a quad bike or dune buggy. Nothing unusual in that, but the right hand wheel of the trailer had completely lost it's tire and was just running on the metal of the wheel! We caught up with it several Km down the motorway and I managed to get a video clip....

Click here if you want to see the whole photo album from Jebel Dhanna http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/neilroberts01/JebelDhanna#

TGI Friday!

It's been a busy week and the weekend couldn't come soon enough. I have just about got used to Friday being the start of the weekend but occasionally I slip up and forget when I am planning. Caz was working again today so I had to amuse myself. Went to the Corniche beach. So here's a few pictures with comments.....

This is the ticket booth for the beach. As I blogged before this was installed because of the pervy Indians! I have to go on the "Persons" side if I am on my own.

The view down the beach. The tallest building left-most is the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority which basically invests the surplus oil profits and buys football clubs! The building going up next to it is called The Landmark and will dwarf the ADIA building. It will be 88 stories high. The blue one in the middle was the tallest building at one time. It's a Hilton apartment hotel. Caz and I stayed there for 3 weeks when we first arrived in Abu Dhabi.

There seemed to be some powerboat racing going on today.

















Covering up extends to the beach. I believe the water parks can look quite amusing!

Went to Corniche Beach

Got in the car and went to the beach today with Lee, Rochelle and Jessica. It take a about 35 mins from our house. Not to many nutters on the road today, makes a nice change. Found a parking space not too far from the bottom of 30th street right opposite the main entrance to the beach. Result.

The beach was free when it first opened, but within a week they had erected (ironic choice of word as you will read!) ticket entry booths and closed off all other access. Basically, this was to stop the (mainly Indian/Pakistani) workers from gathering in groups on the beach to perv the women. Many complaints had been received and so now they charge 5 Dirham to go on the family side and 10 Dirhams to go on the "Persons" side. I have had to go on that side when I have gone to the beach when Caz has been working and it does make you feel like an outcast! Anyway, the entry price has precluded the workers from entering as they can't afford it. Now they just peer from a distance on the walkway to see as much as a glimpse of a female in a bikini. I do kind of feel a bit sorry for them as they work like 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, their wives/girlfriends are back home and they probably don't get to see them hardly ever - they don't have too many pleasures in life! But I guess I would think differently if I were a woman.

I read The National newspaper while sat on the beach. The National is about the only sensible local newspaper. It is written in good English (mainly) and isn't full of government propaganda and general sycophantic brown nosing. There are always stories that make me smile though. Today there was a story about the problem of graffiti in one of the housing areas (Bani Yas). Basically it is being done by local yobs who are bored and have nothing else to do. There was a great quote from one of the yobs, one Mr Saleh al Mahri, 18. He is quoted as saying:-

"The only bad thing we really do is throw stones at those who bother us or
our women, but we definitely don't spray-paint because it's destructive"

Two things stuck me about this; one, an 18 year old taking about "our women" like he is a real man of the world and has like 4 wives (!), and two, throwing stones at people is ok, but they would never spray-paint!

It seems like there is either no one policing what people wear on the beach or things are pretty much going the way of Dubai where anything goes (not topless though of course). Supposedly things are meant to be more conservative here and the beach rules state that you must moderate what you wear. There wasn't much sign of it today. One particular group of girls, who were actually quite close to the Police office, were pretty scantily clad. One had a tiny thong and super enhanced boobs. She was quite obviously very proud of her looks and definitely wanted to be seen! Clearly, I don't really have a problem with it (!) but if there are rules I do think they should be observed. Given the local sensibilities, I do think it is somewhat of a p-take.

Lee had decided to apply suncream himself. Not a good idea. Now he has huge patches of bright red and white. Still, the kids enjoyed the beach, even if the water was freezing!

Passed the stadium on the way home where the tennis tournament is taking place. Looked packed. Got in just in time to see Murray win through to the final.

Probably going to do some of the sights and shopping in Dubai tomorrow.